One True Wish
by KHLostEmpress
Summary: Modern Fantasy Tale: Sora works at the very bottom of the company where Yamato is the heir. One day, Sora comes across a strange yet special shop where she is given magical shoes to help her achieve her dream. But what is her one true wish? Cinderella
1. Crones, Lattes, and Bubblegum Pink

Author's Notes: Modern Fantasy Tale based on Cinderella.

No 02 characters will make appearances in this story. But this means there will be some OCs to cover the gap of the lack of characters. I couldn't bring myself to use my beloved Digimon characters as the evil step-mother/sisters.

_Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon._

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><p>Sora Takenouchi took a moment to study her reflection after she had finished pulling her hair back into a loose bun for work. She wouldn't call herself drop dead gorgeous, but she had always thought she was pretty. Her hair could be called auburn at the best of times, though some might peg it as more of a burnt orange. Her eyes were a gentle brown that gave a hint of her inclination to nurture anyone that she felt needed it. The tennis she had played in high school and college had given her arms and legs a nice toned look, which she kept up with runs in the morning and the occasional tennis match at the gym. She checked her bun in the mirror one last time before grabbing her purse and bag. Checking to make sure her portfolio and sketchbook were in the bag for the third time that morning (as she did every morning), she picked up her keys, pulled on her coat and walked out of her apartment door to face the winter air, locking it securely behind her.<p>

When she was very young, Sora wanted to be the greatest soccer player in the world, and she had been one of the biggest tomboys in the school. Upon entering high school, she had switched sports (soccer to tennis) but not ambitions. It wasn't until college that she discovered her passion and talent for clothing design. She had picked up doodling in junior high (which had continued through her schooling), but then she had taken one class on clothing her first year at the university and found herself hooked. So after graduating with a major in design and a minor in business, she set out to make her mark upon the world through her clothes. Only she found the fashion industry not as easy to enter as she had first imagined. For three years, she had filtered through clothing stores and fashion magazines in various job positions, but just last year, her luck had turned a little for the better when she finally landed a job at the Ishida Corporation, one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world.

Sure, she worked for the most horrid woman in the world and with her equally terrible senior coworkers, but she was _there._ The Ishida Corporation had its hand in all sides of entertainment: movies, TV, modeling, music, and just about anything else. But what was most important to Sora was their fashion design and costume department. A department which she was currently at the bottom rung of, but she had hopes that one day she would be a famous designer. That was the very reason she made sure to bring her portfolio and sketchbook every day to work. She was sure that someday she would have the chance to show it to someone who was important enough to help her.

The trip on the subway was crowded and uneventful as usual, and Sora got off at her stop without too much trouble. She walked the final last block to the building where she worked (which was only one of many the company was run from) where other workers were trickling into the building. She cleared the security checkpoints (the Ishida Corporation seemed to protect their employees more than secret military installations sometimes—Sora knew it was more for the public faces like the actors and models than for the common people like her) and found her way across the lobby to the elevators, taking one up to her floor.

Finally, she entered the office of Terumi Maeda, her boss and one of the many talent managers the company had to offer. Anisa Matsuo and Sela Komatsu were her two exalted assistants, and Sora was nothing more than their errand girl, treated lowlier than the lowest intern by the arrogant woman and her two lapdogs.

Sora glanced around the empty office; she was, of course, the first one to arrive. She walked over to her desk, which was shoved off into one corner of the room as Anisa's and Sela's desks, accessories, and decorations took up the majority of the office. The door leading further into Terumi's office was closed and Sora didn't know whether or not the woman was there yet. She hung her coat off the back of her chair and grabbed her employee card out of her purse. She locked her purse and bag in the bottom drawer of her desk and left the office again to complete her first job of the day: getting coffee for Terumi and her lackeys.

To avoid the elevators as they would be far too crowded and busy taking people up, Sora took the stairs down to the huge main lobby at the base floor of the building. She didn't have to go too far as Terumi's office was only on the seventh floor out of sixty-two floors; it could have been much worse. She passed by those couple few health nuts that took the stairs rather than the elevator on her way down (not that she had anything against them—she actually sort of admired their determination) before exiting out to the lobby, where many an employee was still arriving or milling about.

With her destination now in sight, she weaved her way through the crowd to the modest café in one corner of the vast room. Picking the line to her normal barista, she waited patiently the few minutes it took to get to the front of the line, though others around her were tapping their feet or glancing at watches or cell phones impatiently.

"Good morning, Sora," the barista, a cheerful young woman just a year younger than Sora named Mimi, said. The girl, who had practically flawless features and, if you could believe it, _bubblegum pink_ hair with magenta stripes and glittering silver star clips speckled in it—though it was that very feature that had sort of drawn Sora to her that first day she had seen her—had been working in the café for about the last two months and they had struck up a sort of friendship since the woman had arrived as Mimi's dream was to be a writer for a fashion magazine. Smiling with a wide smile and a bright sparkle in her caramel eyes, she asked, "How are the old hags treating you?"

Sora gave an indulgent smile to the energetic, sincere girl before she said, "Oh, it's not so bad, Mimi."

Mimi shook her head ruefully with half a smile on her face. "You are a saint, Sora," she said with a resigned tone. "An absolute saint. Now, what can I get for you and the evil crones today?" she added at the end with her sincere smile back in full force on her face.

Sora returned the smile as she gave her order to Mimi, who punched it in on the register. She was going to miss her when the girl left the café. Even if Mimi landed her internship with one of the Ishida Corporation's magazines (fashion or otherwise) as she wanted to, those offices were in a completely different building so it was unlikely they would see each other during work. She was most definitely going to have to get the girl's number sometime so that she could actually have some kind of social life outside of work. Which she currently didn't (except for those precious few tennis matches she managed to snag at the gym—but those didn't really count).

As Mimi took Sora's employee card to swipe it through the register, she said, "I don't know how you put up with them. I surely would've done something to get back at them by now if I was in your place." A grin flashed across her face as she said, "I could get their orders wrong on purpose, if you'd like. You can even blame it on me; I wouldn't mind."

"And ruin your chances at the internship?" Sora asked incredulously. "Mimi, I couldn't do that to you. Besides, 'an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind'," Sora added with a small grin.

Mimi gave her a dubious look as she started putting the drinks together with an exaggerated sigh. "Gandhi, Sora? Really?"

Sora rolled her eyes slightly. Mimi's absolute complete sincerity sometimes led her to say whatever popped into her head. She was one of the nicest girls Sora had ever met, but heaven help you if you ever managed to get on her bad side. Sora sometimes wanted to put her in the same room as Anisa and Sela and watch Mimi tear them to bits with her pure honesty. She certainly had the ability to take people down with her frank words. "What's wrong with Gandhi?" Sora asked just the tiniest bit defensive.

Mimi gave an indifferent shrug. "Nothing, but he's just so…so…cliché of a person to quote. You should've gone with 'During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams.' if you wanted to say something inspirational."

"And who said that? Mother Teresa?" Sora asked her with the raising of a single eyebrow.

"Nope. Tupac," Mimi said with a wide radiant grin as she placed the nifty carrying case full of four tall Styrofoam cups filled with hot drinks on the counter in front of Sora.

Sora laughed happily as she gathered up the drinks (one caramel vanilla tea latte—no whipped cream—for Terumi, one peppermint dark chocolate mocha with a peppermint stick for Anisa, one cinnamon pumpkin cappuccino with extra whipped cream for Sela, and one white chocolate raspberry hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings for Sora herself—she'd never been the biggest fan of coffee, as something about the smell just put her off). "Thanks, Mimi," she said appreciatively.

"See you later, Sora," Mimi said vibrantly and with a strange sort of assurance in her tone. "Don't let those witches get you down! Things will get better soon. You'll see!"

With a smile on her face because of Mimi's optimism, Sora walked briskly past the still bustling lobby back towards the elevators where she squeezed in one back up to the seventh floor. Breathing a sigh of relief when she entered the still empty office, since she was sure to be yelled at if they arrived before she and their coffees had gotten back, she set down Anisa's and Sela's drinks on their desks. She stopped by her own desk to set down her hot chocolate and to dispose of the carrying case before she gripped Terumi's cup around its paper sheath and cautiously and tentatively knocked on her door.

"Enter," a cold, harsh voice said from the other side of the wood that almost made Sora cringe just from the sound of it.

Sora opened the door and found Terumi sitting at her desk typing away at her computer. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight bun on her head at the back of her head and her eerie green eyes were covered by her cat's eyes glasses with tear drop shaped lenses. Her impeccable black suit jacket was over a lavender silk shirt that gave an impression of softness underneath a hard exterior that Sora was well aware was only an illusion. Her eyes didn't leave the screen as Sora walked across the room and sent down the tea latte in her hand on Terumi's desk. "Here is your drink, Mrs. Maeda," she said humbly.

Terumi didn't say anything, still did not acknowledge that Sora was even in the room other than to grab the cup and take a sip from the drink. Sora waited patiently for what she knew was coming: Terumi's long list of things for Sora to do for the morning; the afternoon list would come after her brief (if she was lucky) fifteen minute lunch.

After what seemed like hours, but was truthfully probably only ten or fifteen minutes, of Sora standing there waiting for her boss, Terumi said, "Miss Takenouchi, there are a few things that require your attention today. I'll need you to contact the base managers' of Ayako Nerumi, Morpheus Lights, and Kiseki to confirm their schedules for the next two months. Valibella and Kyosuke are scheduled for photo shoots, which I will need you to accompany Anisa and Sela to this morning. You will see to their every need once you are there." Sora noted that Terumi didn't specify whether it was the models or her assistants whose needs Sora should see to; she knew it didn't really matter, whether Terumi specified or not, Sora would be seeing to all of them either way. It was a good thing that it was Valibella and Kyosuke she was assigned to today; they were pretty decent and unassuming as models went. But the photo shoots were still as likely to take most of the morning; it would be a miracle if she had time to call with the base managers and still be able to eat lunch before she had to be back.

"After the photo shoots, I'll need you to go check on the site for The Broken Loyalty's concert this weekend," Terumi continued, shattering Sora's plans to actually sit down for lunch today—she would have to eat on the move to get all that done. "I expect you to be back by one. Once you return, report to me immediately. That will be all, Miss Takenouchi." Terumi dismissed her, not having once even reduced herself to actually look up at Sora the entire time she spoke. The overbearing woman took another small sip from her drink, her perfectly manicured fingernail tapping against the cup, before setting it down and returning to typing on her computer.

Sora breathed the tiniest sighs of relief. She supposed it could have been much worse. She gave a small bow, just the barest inclining of her upper body, knowing a verbal acknowledgement of Terumi's orders was not needed. Sora stepped out of the office and gave a little sigh before heading over to her desk to drink her hot chocolate before it got too cold so that she could get to work. No sooner than she sat down then the door opened and two familiar voices drifted in. "Did you hear the news, Anisa?"

"About the Prince? I heard he left the country again yesterday."

The two women entered practically side by side chatting away at each other. Anisa was the shorter of the two with strawberry blond curls and dark brown eyes. Sela was a tall thin woman with stick straight black hair and cold gray eyes. They didn't even look in Sora's direction as they lounged in their chairs and picked up their cups to drink from as they continued to discuss what they had been talking about when they first came in.

Sora knew who they were talking about. Yamato Ishida, heir to the company, was all they _ever_ seemed to talk about. They called him "the Prince", though he wasn't actually "royal" in any sense of the true meaning of the word, but considering what he was to inherit one day, he might as well have been. They weren't, by any means, the only people to use that nickname. Sora had heard most of the other workers refer to him that way as well. It seemed to be a company-wide nickname. She'd even heard it from others outside the company. If they were in high school, Sora had no doubt that his picture would be the one plastered all over Anisa's and Sela's lockers. That thought drew Sora's eyes briefly to the pictures of him they each had on their desks. Which was just sufficiently creepy enough as it was.

But every once and awhile, he would completely disappear off the face of the map, along with his best friend, Taichi Yagami (another son of important bigwigs in the Ishida Corporation), only to return after a few days as if nothing had ever happened. There were lots of rumors of where he went (secret girlfriends, kidnappings, superhero duties—that last one was completely ridiculous, but some people honestly believed it). But no one actually really knew. Well, Sora assumed that his parents (the owners and CEOs) knew, but they weren't very forthcoming with what it was. Having your son going missing every few months for unknown reasons wasn't exactly something you sent out on a company memo.

In Sora's opinion, she just thought he might take a few days off to go on vacation. She could only imagine the sort of pressure he would be under in his position. She was just the assistant of the assistants and she felt like she could use a few vacation days—more like _months_, she corrected honestly—herself. Not that Terumi would ever let her. Sora could be dying in a hospital bed and Terumi would still blame her for not getting her latte on time in the morning. But people didn't have anything better to do it seemed than to make up stories about other people. It was supposed to make life "exciting". Sora thought her life was busy enough without having to add an exciting factor to it.

Though she couldn't help but wish she had a little bit more…well, _anything_ really to the more romantic side of her life. A love life that currently didn't really exist in even the barest, most basic sense of the word. Her job was mostly to blame as Terumi, Anisa, and Sela worked Sora harder than she ever had previously in her life (not even those nightmare classes in college came anywhere close). About the only free time she had went into those precious few tennis matches at the gym. She'd been told (by Mimi most of all) that she should just quit, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the Ishida Corporation now that she was actually here.


	2. Musical Rants

The bow slid easily along the strings, filling the room with the cello's low haunting melody. Yamato Ishida kept his eyes closed as his fingers moved to release the music. He just let the music swirl around him, finding a solace in it that little else gave. He knew that had something to do with the fact that it had been one of the few things in his life that he had actually chosen to learn, but he hadn't realized how much he would actually come to enjoy music at the time. He heard the door open and knew someone (most likely one of two _specific_ someones) had come in, but they didn't speak. And he did not stop the song to look who it was. Finally, the bow drew slowly along a single string as the final note drifted into silence.

But it wasn't until a familiar voice said, "What's got you so down, Yamato?" that he actually opened his eyes and looked at his best friend, Taichi Yagami, who (despite his mother's protests) still kept his brown hair in the wild spiky corona around his head as he had when they were younger. Taichi's brown eyes were full of mirth and mischief, as they so often were (it was _extremely_ hard to get Taichi to focus on anything seriously that didn't involve his sister), though there was currently the softest of underlining concern in them.

Yamato sighed as he stood, setting his cello and bow on their stand. Jyou, his assistant (though Taichi had other names for him), had arrived that morning with the letter from his mother he knew had been coming long before it had actually arrived. They really should have known better to hide out at his younger brother's house (_again_), despite the fact that it was currently out of the country as Takeru was in America on some international relations thing for the Ishida Corporation, the entertainment conglomerate their family owned and ran. The one Yamato was expected to take over one day. Takeru wouldn't have informed their mother where Yamato was, but being there had only made it that much easier for Jyou to find them. But then again, it would take more than an ocean for Yamato to hide from his mother, Natsuko Ishida.

But it had been Taichi's suggestion (_again_) and somehow Taichi always seemed to be able to make things sound so reasonable…at the time. Yamato had known Taichi's reasons for wanting to come here largely had to do with Taichi's sister, Hikari, who was also Takeru's wife, and their son, Raiden, whom Taichi hadn't seen in the two months since Takeru had been sent here by their parents. Yamato rather thought it was like watching Taichi go through withdrawal if he went too long without seeing Hikari. He honestly wondered how Taichi had survived the first three years of his life before Hikari was born.

"That bad, huh," Taichi said as he flopped onto the couch and propped his feet up on the table.

Yamato didn't join him, but instead went to lean against the window sill. "It's not so much the subject of marriage that bothers me, but the fact that she brings it up _all the time_." Taichi's only response was to laugh exuberantly. Yamato shot him a glare. "That's hardly helping, Taichi."

"Sorry," Taichi said (not sounding like he meant it in the least) after his bouts of laughter had mostly ceased, but a wide grin still remained slathered across his face. "It's just that…we run away from home, you know, _again_ and all she says after sending the babysitter after us is 'come home and get married'?" Taichi's control seemed to slip again as he bent over and started laughing again, clutching his stomach.

Yamato felt the edges of his lips tug upwards as Taichi's mirth permeated through the room. But he still said, "That wasn't the only thing she said. There was the usual bit about disappointment and setting a bad example. Plus her belief that I'm corrupting Takeru, because, yeah, _that'll_ ever happen," he finished with a roll of his eyes. The whole marriage thing was thrown in at the end of the letter, almost as an afterthought. But Yamato knew his mother and knew it was _far_ more than just an afterthought. He continued, "There might have also been the threat of commandeering the army to drag me back home."

Taichi snorted at that. "What does she need to commandeer the army for? It's not like she doesn't basically have one of her own."

Yamato nodded thoughtfully, knowing that Taichi had a point. "I don't know what's she's so worried about, really," Yamato said with another roll of his eyes. "I'm only twenty-seven, after all. It's not like she and Dad are going to keel over anytime soon and leave me the company. In fact, if I had to bet, I'd put my money on her outliving me." Yamato let out a cry of pure frustration. "This is all Takeru's fault."

Taichi gave a confused smile at those words. "How is it possibly Takeru's fault?" he asked.

Yamato frowned. "I'm almost positive that Mom wouldn't bother me so much about it if Takeru wasn't already married."

A small amused laugh escaped from Taichi. "Well, he was lucky enough to have known Hikari her entire life." He laughed again. "Remember when they got 'married'"—Taichi used his fingers as quotation marks at that word—"that one summer? They were what? Five?"

Yamato chuckled at the memory. "Of course, I remember. I performed the ceremony." Yamato remembered that day with crystal clarity. Takeru and Hikari had run up to him with their faces bright and smiling. Hikari had been wearing some kind of pink flower wreath on her head that had no doubt just been made not five minutes ago. They had declared to him that they decided there was no one they liked better than each other so could Yamato please marry them. Yamato had prided himself in that he had not burst out laughing, and their faces had looked so earnest and sincere that he couldn't say no. He even helped them get a white sheet to wrap Hikari in as a sort of wedding dress as the girl had insisted they couldn't get married otherwise. And he had married them by the power invested in himself by himself. Of course, Taichi had managed to find them just as Takeru was giving Hikari a kiss on the cheek, after solemnly stating they weren't old enough for a real kiss yet.

A wry smirk crossed Yamato's lips as he remembered what happened next. He recounted out loud, "Then you wouldn't talk to me for over a week for stealing your baby sister. Which, you know, technically it was _Takeru_ who 'stole' Hikari and not me. I never understood why you were madder at me then you were at Takeru," he finished with a shrug.

A grin splashed across Taichi's face, one that Yamato recognized oh-so-well. "Have you ever _tried_ being mad at Takeru? It's like being angry at the sun," he said with a helpless shrug of his own. "Besides, Hikari would have been mad at _me_ for being mad at _him_. And that was something that I just wouldn't be able to stand. You were the safest target."

Both of them laughed at that point. But eventually Yamato frowned again. "Why couldn't you have been a girl?" he asked Taichi suddenly exasperated with the entire situation.

Taichi's laughter abruptly cut off. "You wanna run that by me again?" he asked with the rising of a single eyebrow.

"If you were a girl, I could have just married you and then I wouldn't be _having _these problems," Yamato explained and even he realized that his reasoning was quite a bit more than just a little jilted.

"Yamato, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say," Taichi said flatly with just the barest hint of a smile.

"You're probably right," Yamato conceded. "You would've made a giddier wife than Hikari anyway."

"_Giddy_?" Taichi repeated indignantly. "I've never been giddy in my life."

"I beg to differ, my friend," Yamato countered, raising a finger to emphasize his point. "You become giddy every time you and Raiden seem to be in the same room."

"Could we _please_ stop using that word?" Taichi asked imploringly. "It's just so—so—I don't know—but I really don't like it. Besides, Raiden is adorable and my insurance."

"Insurance?" Yamato repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?" He was sure that whatever Taichi would come up as a reason it would both be completely nonsensical, yet somehow make perfect sense…to Taichi at least. And he would somehow get Yamato to come along his line of logic as well.

"Yeah," Taichi said defensively. "In case the right girl never comes along for, Mom can't be too disappointed because she's got Raiden."

Yamato nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder if that would work on my mother," he mused, knowing full well that it probably wouldn't. His mother seemed to be determined to turn him into a proficient and properly married business leader for the corporation despite all of Yamato's not-really-good-and-half-hearted attempts of sabotage to the contrary. His lips curled into half a smile as he finished, "I mean, Takeru always was the more responsible one."

"What sort of trouble are you two planning now?" an amused voice asked from the doorway. Yamato looked around to see Takeru standing there with his trademark brilliant smile on his face and holding his equally smiling son in one arm. Yamato's younger brother (by about three years—coincidentally about the same age gap between Taichi and Hikari, but the brother and sister were closer in age by a few negligible months) was a little bit taller than himself, but they shared their blond hair and blue eyes, though Takeru's were slightly lighter in color than Yamato's. Raiden had inherited his father's bright eyes and infectious easy smile. The little boy's hair was somewhere between the light and dark of his parents, the lightest of browns.

Raiden wriggled slightly in his father's grasp exclaiming, "Tai! Tai!" Taichi rose from his seat, a wide smile on his face as he went and plucked Raiden from Takeru's arms. Taichi swung the small two year old boy around in the air before he set him down and began giddily—yes, giddily, Yamato noted with a smirk—playing with his nephew.

Takeru watched the two for a moment with an easy smile before walking across the room and leaning against the back of the couch opposite of Yamato. He stood casually with a gentle smile, silent in waiting. And Yamato realized again how much he loved his brother. There was no expectancy in his stance, no pressure, nothing but acceptance—something Yamato never quite felt that he got from his parents. "Skipping work today?" Yamato asked, finally scrambling through his mind to land on a subject that seemed safe enough to talk about.

Takeru laughed softly, almost as if he saw through Yamato's attempt for casual conversation, which Yamato had admit that he probably did. "I'm the responsible one, remember?" he asked teasingly, but then he just added a nonchalant shrug. "There was only one meeting this morning. So I offered to look after Raiden this afternoon while Hikari took a nap." His grin returned in full force as he finished off with, "I figured that job would be so much the easier if I just pawned him off to Taichi."

Yamato returned the smile for half a second before his mouth turned down in thought. Hikari didn't usually nap, but then again being the mother of an active two year old had to be tiring, especially since she insisted on raising and taking care of him herself rather than hiring nannies, like he and Takeru had when they were kids. Their parents had always been busy running the company. "Is she alright?" Yamato still felt compelled to ask.

Takeru's smile turned slightly evasive, but somehow also held a deeper joy. "Nothing a little time won't fix," he answered. Yamato could tell by the look in his eyes that Takeru was holding something back, leaving something unsaid, but he couldn't figure out exactly what.

"Should we leave?" Yamato asked concerned. As much as he wished for these few days of escape from his responsibilities, he would never want to do anything that would jeopardize Hikari's health.

Takeru laughed. "Trust me, Yamato. She's fine. You're welcome to stay as long as you can." He glanced over at Taichi and Raiden before looking back at him. "Though I heard Jyou arrived this morning. I hope Mom wasn't too harsh on you."

Yamato shrugged. "Nothing worse than usual," he said.

There was silence again for a minute before Takeru asked with a tone of complete seriousness, "Do you want to be in charge of the company, Yamato?" Still, Yamato sensed no urgency or expectancy from Takeru, even though his question might have implied it. Takeru was serious, but he managed to ask the question as if he might have been asking Yamato's opinion on the weather.

Yamato gave his brother half a smile before he said, "I've considered a few times just handing the whole thing over to you." He gave no further comment, just waiting to see what Takeru would say to that. They'd never quite managed to broach the subject so plainly and bluntly before, so Yamato honestly didn't know what Takeru's opinion was of having himself run the company instead of Yamato.

Takeru was quiet again for a few seconds, not a trace of his trademark smile on his face. Yamato couldn't tell at all what his younger brother was thinking, but then again, he'd always had a hard time with that. He could read Taichi like a book, but he'd realized that he didn't know how to read Takeru. It didn't help that during their childhood (actually most of their lives) Takeru had spent the most time with Hikari and in the past year, Takeru had spent more time out of the country on assignments for their mother, so Yamato had only really seen him on his few weeks he spent at home and when Yamato and Taichi had run away to see them. Finally Takeru answered, "I'd take it if that's what you really wanted, Yamato, but I honestly think you'd be better at running it than I would."

"Really?" Yamato asked in disbelief.

Takeru's smile returned as he nodded. "I'm much better suited for what I'm doing right now: public and international relations, those sorts of things. I'd do better being an advisor than making decisions. You're not irresponsible, Yamato," he added, piercing Yamato with his clear and bright gaze. His smile turned amused as he added, "You just have the misfortune of having a persuasive best friend who often tends to act before he thinks. Mom and Dad would have given up on you long ago if they didn't think you could do it."

Yamato studied his brother. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"Of course, I do," Takeru said with a wide grin. "I wouldn't say anything I didn't mean." The teasing glint returned to his eyes as he added, "What would our employees do without you, anyway? You are their 'Prince', after all."

Yamato sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose partly in annoyance and partly in amusement. "Please don't call me that," he pleaded. He had, of course, heard the nickname he'd been given by the Ishida Corporation employees. He also thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Takeru's only answer was to laugh.

"Mommy!"

Raiden's happy cry drew the attention of the two brothers to the doorway where Hikari was walking into the room holding her arms out for her son, who was running toward her as fast as his little legs could manage. Takeru straightened and that brought Yamato's attention back to him. There was mild concern in his eyes, but his smile didn't fade. Yamato really didn't know what to make of the situation.

As Hikari scooped up Raiden in her arms, he, Takeru, and Taichi all made their way across the room to where she was. Hikari had a soft beauty to her, having inherited her mother's looks. Her brown hair was the color of milk chocolate and eyes a gentle shade of burgundy. Tai and Hikari's mother, Yuuko Yagami, had once been the most famous model in the Ishida Corporation, but Hikari had turned down the offer to become one herself, preferring to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. She occasionally worked in that capacity for the company, but didn't do it often as she was always flying around the world with Takeru or spending her days with Raiden. Yamato thought of the couple as two of the nicest people in the world.

Nothing seemed wrong with Hikari as she greeted the three men with a bright smile, holding her gaze on Takeru longer than Yamato or Taichi. A quick glance at his brother gave Yamato the impression that they were speaking without saying a word to each other in a way that Yamato had never managed with his brother, but had with Taichi. He admitted then that perhaps he had spent far too much time with Taichi in his life. After a few seconds, both seemed satisfied with whatever had been understood between them as Hikari turned to Taichi and said with actual genuine regret, "I heard Jyou arrived this morning. I guess that means your stay is about to be cut short." She smiled. "It's too bad. I was getting used to having babysitters for Raiden."

Before anyone else could say another word, Jyou came around the corner of the doorway, looking slightly disheveled and flicking at his handheld with clear urgency. Yamato looked at Takeru, who was smiling at him and this time Yamato could read reassurance and faith in that single smile. And Yamato returned it with a smile of his own.


	3. What Century is This?

Yamato was on the airplane when the realization finally hit.

Once Jyou had entered the room, they had all known it was time for goodbyes. It was always hard, even though Takeru and Hikari would only be gone for another week at the most (making it all the more surprising that he and Taichi had chosen to run off to see them). Within a few hours time and a dull, boring car trip later, the three of them were boarding the private jet Jyou had come on (Yamato and Taichi used the regular airlines when they ran away, so Jyou always brought the plane along when he went to bring them back). The plane had been Yamato's birthday present when he was seventeen—though all he'd asked for was a guitar. He never did get that guitar, he remembered suddenly, though he didn't really mind so much since he'd come to like his cello so much.

They had stopped in Hawaii for the night because Yamato hated flights that ran overnight mostly because he didn't sleep well on airplanes. Taichi had no such problems whatsoever. He'd been snoring and snoozing away once they'd hit twelve thousand feet, which may very well have accounted for Yamato's sleeping troubles, if he really thought about it. Taichi wasn't exactly the quietest sleeper in the world.

It was mid-afternoon, perhaps two hours out from home, when Yamato found himself flipping through one of Taichi's sports magazines. He was looking at the pictures rather than reading any of the articles, but even so he was not really focused on any of them. It was merely something to do as he waited for the plane to land. Taichi was sitting across from him, actually _reading _his magazine articles, unlike Yamato. It was then—between the idle thoughts of his mind—that the clues fit together and he suddenly knew exactly what all that back and forth secret glances mumbo jumbo between Takeru and Hikari meant.

Hikari was pregnant.

He actually laughed out loud in that moment the thought occurred to him, mostly at himself for not putting it together sooner, which caused Taichi to raise his eyes from his magazine with his eyebrows lifted in an unspoken question. Yamato decided instantly that he wasn't going to be the one to give it away, so he waved Taichi off with a shake of his head and a mumbled, "Never mind."

Taichi narrowed his eyes for a moment, but he must have decided after a few seconds that it wasn't worth it as he returned to his reading with a shrug of his shoulders. It stood out to Yamato then that it was really no wonder the two of them were probably keeping this to themselves as long as possible. When Hikari had been pregnant with Raiden, both sets of parents (but more their mothers really) had become crazily overprotective of Hikari—way worse than Taichi on a bad day. With good (mostly) cause, however, as Hikari did have a somewhat delicate state of health when she was younger, though she had gotten over all of it by the time she'd become a teenager. His parents were probably worried about some of those old illnesses rearing their ugly heads at that most inopportune time.

A few minutes later, Jyou stood up from his seat with his phone in his hand, stabbing away at it with his tiny stylus. He walked over to them and, without even looking up from the small device, said, "Mr. Ishida—"

"Yamato," he cut in. He hated being called that just slightly less than the whole "Prince" thing—ridiculous nickname that it was. It was what his father was called, not him, not if he had any say in it…which he usually didn't, now that he really thought about it.

Jyou looked up from his phone and with slight shock in his eyes. "Right, sorry," he said. He poked at the phone once more with the stylus before he looked back up at Yamato again. This time he had pulled in his bottom lip again, and there was a slightly panicked and dismayed look in his eyes that gave Yamato the sudden urge to rip open the door and jump off the plane, parachute or no parachute. He had a terrible impression that he was not going to like what Jyou had to say. "Yamato, sir, don't freak out," Jyou finally managed to say, his words rushed and almost cringing.

Yamato heaved a sigh and hung his head as his suspicions were completely confirmed. This was going to be terrible news. He didn't think anyone had died or anything horrific like that. Yamato would only be so lucky to receive such news. No, this had the definite smell of his mother had come up with something or another that Yamato was sure not to appreciate and was leaving Jyou once again to bear the news. Seeing a need to delay the inevitable, Yamato said, "I've told you not to start a conversation with those words, Jyou."

"Actually, you told him not to say 'don't get mad' when he talks to you," Taichi interjected without even looking up. There was a distinct hint of pleasure in Taichi's tone that Yamato didn't quite like. Taichi was certainly gearing up to make sure he enjoyed Yamato's distress as much as he possibly could. If there was anything that Taichi liked to do, teasing Yamato would certainly be one of his favorite things.

Yamato stared at his best friend as he thought for a moment. "And the difference is?" he asked finally.

Taichi turned the page of the magazine—still not even looking up at Yamato—and said, "Well, 'mad' implies some form of anger while 'freak out' goes more along the lines of panic. Two very different emotions you got there." Yamato could see that grin on his face, the one that Taichi only displayed when he thought he'd gotten the one up on Yamato.

"Have I told you lately how very much I hate you, Taichi?" Yamato asked with a sardonic smirk.

Taichi finally looked up and gave Yamato his fullest and most playful grin. "I heart you, too, Yamato," he said with only the barest hints of sarcasm in his voice.

Yamato gave in and did the very first thing that came to his mind. He flung the magazine that was still in his hand straight at Taichi—a childish act to be sure, but Yamato didn't particularly care at that moment—which hit him square in the face causing the other man to give out a cry of surprise and dismay, before Yamato turned back to Jyou without so much as a blink of his eyes. "Now, what bad news do you have to deliver this time?" he asked his assistant, trying to remain cool and calm for whatever bad news Jyou was about to deliver.

"Your mother has just called to inform me that she plans on holding a ball when you get back," Jyou said in a rush, looking extremely uncomfortable as he tried very hard not to make eye contact with Yamato.

There was a pause for just a moment, where nothing could be heard but the soft humming of the engines. Then Taichi burst into laughter as Yamato repeated, "A ball? She can't be serious. What century does she think we're in anyway?"

"You can think of it as a party if it makes you feel better," Jyou offered not quite helpfully, as it didn't really matter what it was called it all amounted to the same thing. His mother had somehow managed to stoop down to parading rich and notable—and most importantly eligible—young ladies in front of him en masse. There were very few things that Yamato could think of that he would rather experience less. Jyou continued, "She wants to wait until your brother returns, so it will be on the Saturday following this one."

"So what you're really saying is that my life will be officially over in a week and a half," Yamato said with a fair amount of chagrin. His mother sure had some strange ideas on the meaning of being "helpful".

"Yes, death by rampaging attractive women," Taichi said with a low chuckle and a somewhat disturbing half-smile on his face—it was the feral glint in his eyes that made Yamato most unsettled about it. "You gotta admit that it's probably not the worst way to go. At least you won't be bitten to death by a ferret or something."

"A ferret?" Yamato asked incredulously. "Taichi, where do you come up with these ideas?"

Taichi shrugged. "It was in some book Takeru read once," he explained. "He was talking about it a long time ago, and I was thinking that it had to be one of the more humiliating deaths one could suffer, which is why I remembered it. You know, crossing it off the list of ways I'd like to die."

"You have a list?" Yamato asked as he quirked up an eyebrow in skepticism.

"Sure. Don't you?" Taichi countered. Yamato almost couldn't believe it, but there was an _actual_ hint of genuine confusion in his tone when he asked the question. His best friend seriously had too much spare time on his hands.

Yamato rubbed his forehead liberally with one hand, feeling the onset of a headache that had absolutely nothing to do with his physical health and everything to do with the somewhat ridiculous man sitting across from him. "Taichi, you need a job," he stated flatly and firmly.

"I have one. You don't think I follow you around all the time because it's fun, do you?" Taichi's grin was back to being full and impish as he finally set his magazine down and turned his full attention to Yamato, putting his fingertips together in front of him as he spoke.

"Honestly, yes. Yes, I do."

"But that's what makes my job so great! Being able to annoy you twenty-four seven is one of the perks that drew me in."

Yamato's eyes rolled at Taichi's antics. It simply could not be true. His parents could not have been that stupid. A scoffing grunt escaped him before he said, "You can't honestly think I would believe my parents hired you to follow me around."

Jyou interjected then with a hesitant tone as he said, "Actually, sir…"

Yamato didn't let him finish as Jyou's tone gave away what he was about to say. Yamato couldn't believe. He could not _believe_ it. He held up a hand in Jyou's direction before the other man could say anything more and said, "Not another word, Jyou. Not. One. More. Word. When did this happen?" he shot at Taichi with just the tiniest bit of venom.

"The first time we ran away from Jyou," Taichi said with a nonchalant shrug.

"We were fifteen," Yamato pointed out.

"Exactly."

Yamato threw up his arms in defeat. "Then why is it that _you_ always seem to be the one trying to get _me_ to run off?" he asked with aggressive curiosity.

Taichi's reply was simple but made complete sense as he said succinctly, "Job security."

"Right," Yamato said quietly as his anger built silently. His hand returned to his forehead as the threatening headache broke out in full force. "I think I prefer that 'death by attractive women' as you so called it right about now. Even the ferret is looking better and better each minute."

"Ahh, you don't mean that, Yamato."

"Actually, I think I do. I really think I do. My best friend is actually a hired employee sent by my parents to watch my every move, and my mother is planning to throw me at every single woman she can find in a little over a week. I'm not really seeing a bright side to any of this."

"Uh, sir?" Jyou tried to say, but Yamato wasn't really in the mood to hear any excuse his assistant had for not telling him about this for _twelve years_, if Taichi had indeed been in the employ of his parents since they were fifteen.

"Not right now, Jyou!" Yamato said harshly.

"I'm still your best friend, no matter what. It's not like your parents actually pay me to spend time with you," Taichi replied as if Jyou hadn't said anything at all. Taichi was prone to ignore Jyou at the best of times, which was usually the better option for Jyou when it came to Yamato's soon-to-be ex-best friend, if he had anything to say about it after this revelation.

Yamato's hand slid down his face before it fell back down to lie over his knee. He leaned his head back at he stared blankly at the ceiling before he said, "No, they just pay you to spy on me."

"Well, not exactly…okay, maybe, just that exactly," Taichi corrected himself. He continued with a rush, "But I don't tell them _everything_, you know. It's really more like they give me an allowance than an actual salary_. _I still heart you," Taichi added at the end almost feebly with an anxious grin.

"Thanks, Taichi. That's helps ever so much," Yamato said with ample amounts of sarcasm.

"Come on. You know you love me," Taichi said cheekily. Yamato turned his head down from the ceiling to study his best friend for a moment. Taichi's expression was simply full of boyish candor and easy confidence. And Yamato realized that Taichi was completely right.

He sighed heavily into his hands in defeat before looking back at Taichi with a soft relaxed smile. "Yeah, yeah. Best friends for life and all that good heart to heart stuff," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Sir!" Jyou yelled suddenly.

"What?" Yamato asked, finally turning his attention to his assistant, certain that he was about receive more bad news from his mother. His mind instantly starting running through the possibilities, each idea coming off worse than the one before it.

Jyou's gaze flicked nervously back and forth between Taichi and Yamato before he finally said, "Mr. Yagami…" Jyou stopped there when Taichi shot him a death glare—Yamato believed that Taichi hated being called that more than Yamato hated the whole "Prince" thing—and immediately corrected himself with, "Uh, Taichi is not being paid by your parents to follow you." His lips pinched as he waited for Yamato's reaction.

There was an actual distinct pause while Yamato processed this. "Really," was all that came out at the end of his thought process. His gaze slowly moved away from Jyou and back to Taichi, who had picked the magazine back up and was trying very hard to appear to be a part of the scenery. There was another quiet pause before Yamato said, "You lied to me. Why am I not surprised?" he finished with a roll of his eyes as his head fell back to look at ceiling again. He was actually angrier at himself that anything for actually _believing_ Taichi in the first place. After all their years together, he really should have known better.

"That's such a harsh way to put it. You have to admit that I totally had you going there. Remember what you said, 'best friends for life', right?"

"Why are you my best friend again?" Yamato asked hopeless rhetorically, knowing that Taichi would come with an answer whether he wanted it or not. His pulled his gaze back down from the ceiling to his best friend who was displaying his usual toothy grin again.

Sure enough, Taichi said, "We've known each other since we were born? Lack of other options? Anyone else would only want you for your money? Or you don't actually hate me as much as you pretend to?" His expression was very roguish and very _annoying_ by the end of his speech. Definitely not a Taichi that Yamato wanted to deal with at the moment.

So, Yamato ignored him and turned back to Jyou. "Is there anything else, Jyou?" he asked. He wanted to make sure all the bad news was out of the way.

Jyou looked almost startled that Yamato was talking to him again. Yamato could see the confusion in his thoughts as he struggled for a reply before finally asking slightly tentatively, "About what, sir?"

"The ball. The party. The end of my life as we know it," Yamato reminded Jyou with extreme weariness at just about everything, suddenly no longer sure if he could handle any more at the moment.

"You're really being quite overly dramatic about this whole thing," Taichi apparently felt the need to point out, once again still engrossed in his magazine but not missing a chance to poke fun at Yamato. He hardly let those moments pass…ever.

"Someday, I'm going to kill you," Yamato said flatly. "A veritable crime of passion to be sure."

"No, you won't," Taichi countered without the slightest hint of concern at the threat. "That would be a felony and your mother would simply die of shame if you got arrested."

"Hello? Sarcasm?"

"Why, Yamato, I didn't know you knew how to be sarcastic," Taichi asked with his eyebrows raised in extreme surprise.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"You're smart. You figure it out."

"That's it. When we get home, I'm demanding that you find a real job," Yamato said on his very last straw of everything. He looked back at Jyou with more heat than the poor man probably deserved and barked, "Well, Jyou?"

"I'm afraid I might have forgotten the question, sir…Yamato."

"Did my mother have anything else to say?"

"Um, no. That was it," Jyou said and Yamato let the relief flood in him that he didn't have to hear any more crazy stuff that day. Jyou walked back over to his chair and sat down, poking at his phone once more with the stupid little stick. Taichi returned to his magazine, while Yamato turned his gaze to the window, wondering what could possibly happen next.


	4. Near Miss at Lunch

Sora would have sworn to any power, high, low, side-to-side, or in between that it hadn't been there before. She walked down this same street every single day and, while she didn't often pay that much attention to the shops, she thought it was rather unlikely that she wouldn't have at least noticed it before, seeing as it was decorated so…unusually. She was well aware that it hadn't been there when she walked by this morning. Sora knew that one of two things had to have happened. The first, and most unlikely, was that someone had managed to do the construction and decorating required to open a new store in one single nine to five work day. The other option was that Sora had finally just cracked under pressure and was now the subject of strange hallucinations.

Given how Sora felt like she was still recovering from working The Broken Loyalty's concert the previous weekend and the fact that Sela and Anisa had been particularly trying the past couple of days (plus it seemed Mimi, her loyal and sympathetic barista, had finally gotten that internship or a new job as she hadn't been at the café since the beginning of the week), she thought anyone might agree with her on the second option being more likely.

The storefront was border line on the ridiculous. Sora stared at the sparkling silver sign that read _One True Wish_, hanging above the pale pink canopy that shaded the window and door. The window display held strange and delicate silver instruments of which Sora was sure had no real practical use beyond looking cool and pretty. On the door were printed names, almost as if it were an office of a doctor or lawyer. The top name was: S. Tachikawa, FG. Below it must have been a son or daughter, perhaps even a spouse, as it read: M. Tachikawa, FG. Sora had never before heard the title "FG" and couldn't begin to guess what it stood for.

Curiosity got the better of her as she pushed door open and stepped inside. She was expecting to see a store with shelves full of colorful items that school girls would enjoy buying, but that wasn't what she found. In fact, she didn't find a store at all, but it really was just an office. There were two desks with the same names from the door on the nameplates. The room was decorated but not excessively. And it seemed to really be just the one room. Besides the one leading out to the sidewalk, Sora could see no other doors. But the office was empty and the door was unlocked, so that really didn't make any sense.

She was just about to turn around and leave the somewhat creepy (due to the emptiness) room when out of nowhere, in a flash of sparkles, a very familiar girl appeared next to one of the desks. A very familiar girl with very familiar bubblegum pink hair. "Well, it's about time," she said with her arms folded across her chest.

"Mimi?" Sora asked with some surprise. She couldn't help but glance around the room before she asked, "Where did you come from?" She wasn't quite willing to accept that the girl had just appeared out of thin air. She must have blinked. Or something.

"My boyfriend's apartment," Mimi answered with a slightly dismissive wave of her hand. "It's a good thing he knows about all this or else I would have had a lot of explaining to do on why I had to leave after whining my way into getting him to watch my favorite chick flick again."

She stopped and smiled at Sora. She seemed to be waiting for a response, but all Sora's brain could manage at the moment was a confused and helpless question of "What?"

"Mother always said they come when the time is right, but I've never been the most patient person in the world," Mimi as she beamed widely. "I've been waiting all week for you to find this place."

Sora's mind finally managed to catch up as she demanded, "Mimi, what is going on?"

"I'm your fairy god—can we say fairy godsister?," she asked with a thoughtful look. "Because, you know, you're older than me and 'godmother' makes me sound ancient. It's not so bad when it's the teenagers and the school kids, but, well, you understand, right?"

"Sure," Sora said somewhat shocked. Then what Mimi said finally processed and she added, "Wait a minute. 'Fairy godmother' as in…magic?"

"We agreed on 'godsister' and yes."

There was a pause and then Sora said flatly, "This is a prank, isn't it?"

Mimi sighed. "Now I know why mother doesn't like working with adults. The younger ones believe so much easier. She tried to warn me, but you were just so worthy, that I couldn't help myself. No, this is not a prank and no you are not hallucinating. Tell me: have you ever seen this store here before?"

"Well, no, but—"

"That's because it only appears to those we chose as our recipients. Usually school girls—occasionally a boy—which is why, by the way, the storefront is all sparkling and full of glitter. Girls usually like those sorts of things. It can appear anywhere at any time. I have magic, like my mother before me, and her mother before her, et cetera, et cetera. Though we can only use it to grant other people's wishes."

It sunk in then. It _really_ did. "You're being serious," Sora said quietly with wide eyes.

"Of course, I am. I am a fairy godmoth—sister, here to grant all your wishes with my wondrous magic," Mimi said with a smile. There was a small pause where her look turned more pensive as she added, "Well, actually just one wish. Your heart's true desire, to be completely accurate."

"But what if I don't know what that is?" Sora burst out as all her dreams she had ever thought of since she was ten years old flowed through her mind and she wondered which one exactly Mimi would grant

"You don't have to know. In fact, I don't even have to know. The magic will know, and that's all that really matters." Suddenly she looked a little apprehensive as she asked tentatively, "So…will you do it?"

That took Sora aback. "I have a choice?" she asked, figuring that Mimi would have done it whether she liked it or not.

"Why wouldn't you have a choice? This is all for your benefit, after all. I don't really get anything beyond the warm feelings of having helped someone in need. Not that it's not worth it."

"That's a good point," Sora said, finally mostly accepting the whole thing. "But…can I just ask one thing?" At Mimi's nod, she continued, "Why were you working as a barista if you've got all this?"

"Like I said, I don't exactly get paid for this gig, so I have to have some sort of real income," Mimi answered. "And being out there is a good way of finding the worthy ones."

"And…what about your internship?"

"Oh, I got that. That's really why I stopped working the barista thing. Not that I'll need it really need it since Koushiro—the man I'm most certainly going to marry, even if he hasn't quite figured that out yet—has tons of money due to the fact that he invented some program that does something with computers that's apparently pretty popular. He's adorable really when he rambles about it, if somewhat annoying when he ignores me because of the whole shebang, though I hardly understand most of what he says. All I know is that when he says JAVA and I say java we are not talking about the same thing. One of those—what do you call them? Homophones? Homonyms? I never could remember the difference."

"Homonym," Sora answered distractedly. "But that's not really accurate because the computer JAVA is an acronym, though I have no idea what it stands for. And we are getting completely off-topic here!"

"You're completely right," Mimi agreed. She lifted her hand into the air and a long thin glittering white wand appeared in her hand. She tapped her chin with her finger as she moved the hand with the wand to rest on her waist, leaving a trail of sparkles briefly in the air behind it. "Now for the charm," she muttered. "Nothing too flashy, nothing that would stand out. Goodness, little girls are so much easier. Give them a little pin or ring and they're happy."

Sora was had known that Mimi was somewhat of a rambler, but she had never interacted with her long enough before to find out _how much_ she tended to do that. "Mimi," she said firmly, trying to get the other woman back on track.

"Right, sorry. It's going to have to be the shoes," Mimi finished decisively.

"Shoes?" Sora repeated, as she looked down at her plain round tipped black high heels.

"Mmhmm," was her only reply. Then Mimi began humming and twirling her wand above her desk. Streams of glittering light descended from the tip of the wand. In a small burst of light, a pair of bright metallic hot pink shoes with four inch heels appeared.

Sora blinked at them for a few seconds. She appreciated them, as a designer herself, but hot pink was not really her color. And she just knew she would end up tripping if she tried to walk around with _that_ high of a heel. "Mimi, I appreciate the thought, but those are a little—"

"Too much?" Mimi asked with a small pout. Sora nodded. Mimi sighed and just said, "Sorry. Let me try again."

She zig-zagged her wand over the shoes. Subsequently, the heels lowered about two inches, and they changed into a soft shimmering silver.

"Oh, they're beautiful," Sora said, automatically running through her closet to figure out all the outfits she could match with them. With the more neutral color, she knew that she would be able to match them to tons of her clothes. Mimi handed them to her, smiling brightly. She stared at them for a moment before she realized something. "Now what do I do?" she asked.

"Wear the shoes and the magic will take care of the rest," Mimi assured her.

"It's that simple?"

"Yep."

Sora lifted an eyebrow doubtfully.

"Just trust me, Sora," Mimi assured her. She gave a little wave and said, "Bye now!" before she disappeared in a swirl of sparkles. Sora eyed the shoes again, a small amount of doubt creeping into her about this whole situation, despite the fact that she kind of had to believe Mimi had magic due to all the sparkles, conjuring, and disappearing. But, doubtful or not, she still took the shoes home with her.

* * *

><p>They were taunting her—she was sure of it. Sora had returned from her early morning jog to find the silver shoes sitting right on the dresser where she had set them the night before when she returned home. The promise of magic had sort of faded during the night and Sora was debating whether or not it had all been some kind of crazy dream. She ignored the sparkling things as she hopped into the shower, but they were still there when she got out.<p>

She dressed in her normal ensemble of a work suit with skirt—today in a nice shade of navy blue with a silken silver shirt. She was certainly not planning on matching those shoes, but since they went along so nice with her outfit _anyway_…well, there was no reason to let a perfectly good pair of shoes go to waste.

She picked up the shoes and put them on by the door. She pulled on her coat, grabbed her bag, and was out the door before rationality caught up with her.

Once she got to the office and complete the morning coffee ritual, the last thing that Terumi gave her to do on her long morning list was to deliver some papers to another Ishida building. She got through all her other jobs and was leaving the office where she delivered the papers, moving her bag to her other hand so she could check her watch to see how much time she had for lunch, when she felt a tug on her skirt and heard a bright voice say, "Hello."

Sora looked down only to find a small boy standing there. He couldn't have been more than two or three years old. He had light brown hair, bright blue eyes, and an easy smile on his face. "Um, hello. Can I help you?"

The boy nodded eagerly. "I think I a little lost," he said. "Can you help find my mommy?"

"Oh, dear," Sora said suddenly slightly panicked and completely unsure of what she should do. "What's your mom's name?" she asked desperately, hoping that she could ask someone if they knew the boy's mother.

"Mommy," the boy answered immediately and quite unhelpfully. "Sometimes Daddy and Tai call her Kari." The little boy giggled and continued, "Daddy even calls her love. Daddy's pretty silly, huh?"

Sora fought down a smile, despite the fact that she hadn't gotten any real useful information from him. She knew his mother's name was Kari, but it wasn't like that was an uncommon name, and there was someone called Tai involved. She tried a different approach when she asked, "What's your name?"

"Raiden."

"Do you have another one after that?"

"Yep."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I can't 'member."

Sora fought down a sigh of frustration, reminding herself that he was (probably) only two years old. Figuring that she needed to get as much information as she could she asked, "Does your mommy work here?"

"Nope."

"Your dad?" she asked tentatively, hoping that the answer would not be another "no".

"Yep," Raiden answered to her immense relief. He even continued and said, "Mommy and me come see him for lunch when we not away. But I gots on the elelator and I gots off the elelator and now I losted. Then I finded you cause your shoes is so pretty and shiny. I two."

Having a confirmation of his age was nice but not really necessarily relevant. Though from the gist of what he said, Sora got that his father probably did not work on this floor. Not knowing what else to do, she held out her empty hand and said, "Come on. I'll help you find her." She was certainly not just going to leave him here, and the hallway was empty of anyone else, so she figured she could take him down to security and hopefully they would know what to do with him.

"Thanks…uh…lady," Raiden said.

Sora chuckled. "My name is Sora."

"Thanks, Sora."

They got on the "elelator" and took it down to the lobby. She veered off to the side where the security office was. She entered and was surprised to find everyone rushing about in somewhat of a panic. She approached the desk and found the security officer there glued to the security screens, which were flipping through various camera angles quickly. "Excuse me?" she asked, trying to get his attention.

"Sorry, ma'am. We have a bit of a situation, but nothing to worry about. It's all under control. Please sit down over there until we resolve it."

Sora bit of the urge to snort as she thought she really wouldn't want to see what "out of control" was if this was "under control". But she pressed on, knowing that her problem was kind of important to—not to mention Terumi was going to kill her if she was late, but she wasn't going to just abandon Raiden in the security office. Speaking more calmly than she felt, she said, "I understand, but I have a bit of an emergency. You see, I found this little boy here—"

She cut off as the man stiffened and shot out of his chair to peer over the desk at Raiden, who waved cheerfully and said, "Hi!"

Without another word, the man walked quickly back further into the office and went through a door, leaving Sora and Raiden alone. "Well, that was weird," Sora muttered.

A few seconds later, the door opened and the man came back out followed by an older man. They came around the desk to where Sora and Raiden were standing. "Well, chief? Is it him?" the first man asked.

The older man grunted and pulled his radio out and up to his mouth. "Stand down, men. Bluebird is safe. I repeat, Bluebird is safe." As he put his radio away, Sora wondered if she was caught up in some kind of weird movie scene because they were honestly using code names. Which was just…odd, to say the least. The man looked down at the boy. "Come along, Mr. Ishida. Your mother has been quite worried."

Sora's eyes widened as the name registered. She looked down at the boy who was saying, "Hey, I 'member now, Sora. My name's Raiden Ishida!"

"We're all very proud, sir," the chief said, somehow sounding both sincere and patronizing at the very same time. He held out his hand to Raiden as he said, "Now come with me."

"No!" Raiden shouted suddenly defiant. He gripped Sora's hand with both of his tiny ones. "I go with Sora. She nice."

The chief sighed into his hand before rubbing his face. He looked over at Sora. "Do you mind coming with us, miss?"

"No," she answered quickly, suddenly realizing exactly who Raiden was and why they were in a panic when she came into the office. He wasn't just any Ishida. Raiden Ishida was the name of the son of Takeru Ishida, the Prince's younger brother, and therefore the _grandson_ of the CEOs and owners of the whole company, Hiroaki and Natsuko Ishida. And there was no way she was going to miss the chance to meet the Ishidas.

"Then, let's go," the chief said.

They took the elevator up almost to the top floor. The chief led Sora and Raiden to a pair of double doors which opened with a swipe of a key card. There was only one occupant in the grand room beyond the doors, a pretty woman with brown hair and burgundy eyes. She looked extremely familiar, like someone Sora had seen somewhere before. "Mommy!" Raiden cried out as he pulled out of Sora's grasp and raced to her.

"Oh, Raiden," she said as she gathered the little boy in her arms. "I think you've been spending a little too much time with Taichi. You're starting to pick up his bad habits."

"I love Tai!" the little boy protested.

She laughed. "I know. I do, too."

"I got losted, Mommy But Sora found me and helped me find you."

The woman looked at Sora with a smile. Sora had now figured out had to be Hikari Ishida, Takeru's wife, who was also the daughter of Yuuko Yagami, one of the (if not _the_) most famous models the Ishida Corporation ever had. It must have been the reason she looked familiar, because Sora had seen countless photos of Yuuko and her daughter did resemble her mother quite a bit_._ "Thank you," she said with complete sincerity.

"It was nothing, really," Sora said, not quite sure what else she was supposed to say.

The security chief grunted and said, "If that will be all, Mrs. Ishida, I'll take my leave."

"Yes, thank you," Hikari said as the man exited out of the room.

There was a small pause. "I should go, too," Sora said feeling very uncomfortable, turning halfway towards the door.

"You should join us for lunch," Hikari said quickly. "It's the least we could do since you found Raiden."

Raiden rushed back over to her and tugged on her skirt again, "Please stay, Sora. Please?" he finished dragging out the last word.

"I wouldn't want to impose on your family," Sora said slowly, tearing her gaze away from Raiden's wide pleading eyes before she gave in.

"Nonsense. Takeru and I eat together all the time. It'll be nice to have some company. Besides, my brother and Yamato will be here any minute, so it's not like you'll be interrupting."

Struck with the sudden thought that Anisa and Sela would kill her if they found out she had lunch with the Prince, Sora burst out and said quickly, "My boss is expecting me back soon."

"Who do you work for?" Hikari asked calmly. "And Raiden, stop pulling on her skirt."

Raiden crossed his arms in front of his chest and his lips fell into a pout as he muttered, "Sorry, Mommy."

"Terumi Maeda," Sora answered.

Hikari pressed a button on the table. "Inform Terumi Maeda that Sora—" she looked over at Sora expectantly.

"Takenouchi," Sora supplied automatically.

"Sora Takenouchi will be joining me for lunch and not to expect her back until later this afternoon." She smiled at Sora, and said mischievously, "What's the use of marrying an Ishida if you can't throw the name around a little?"

A new voice said, "So that's why you married me. And I've been thinking all these years that it was because you loved me." Sora turned around and saw a tall blonde man enter the room. It must have been Takeru Ishida, as she could see the resemblance between him and pictures of Yamato Ishida on Sela's and Anisa's desks.

"Daddy!" Raiden called out, abandoning Sora for the newcomer. His father swooped the little boy up into his arms where Raiden throw his arms around Takeru in a tight hug.

Hikari was laughing as Takeru and Raiden came to stand next to her. Sora followed slowly and slightly apprehensive. "That might have had something to do with it," she teased as Sora took a seat on another chair. "Just a little."

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened again and in walked another man, this one with gravity defying brown hair and bore a resemblance to Hikari. Sora concluded that it had to be her brother, Taichi, and Sora realized she had no idea what he did for the company. She heard that he was basically always with the Prince, but she'd never known exactly what his job was. Hikari greeted her brother with a smile and a hug.

"Where's Yamato?" Takeru asked.

"Last minute call from your parents," Taichi explained. "He said he'd try to make it some other time." He looked over at Sora and asked, "Who's this?"

Hikari made the introductions, explaining Raiden's disappearance (which neither man had apparently heard about) and how Sora found him, with small expanding comments from Raiden. Takeru looked concerned about the whole affair and repeated Hikari's thanks to Sora, but Taichi just laughed and congratulated Raiden on a successful escape, mentioning that he and Yamato hadn't managed it until they were at least six. Sora suddenly understood Hikari's comment about Raiden and Taichi from earlier.

Then, servers arrived with plates of food and Sora found herself in one of the most surreal situations that she had ever experienced—being accosted by Mimi as a fairy godsister, notwithstanding. She was sitting here, having lunch with the _Ishidas_, and talking like they were old friends. All three of them (since Raiden didn't really contribute that much to the actual conversation—though he did interject with his own opinions now and again that had really nothing remotely to do with the topic at hand that one of the three acknowledge before promptly returning to the conversation) seemed to be genuinely interested in what she had to say and they were nothing at all like she imagined rich people to be. Taichi was playful and boisterous, Hikari was kind and thoughtful, and Takeru was optimistic and subtly sarcastic.

Sora had always assumed that if she ever met the Ishidas (unlikely as she had always thought that would be), they would have arrogant and self-serving. She found herself having a wonderful time and somewhat wistful of missing the chance to meet the Prince himself to see if he would too break the mold of what she always thought he'd be like.

After lunch, Takeru and Taichi left and Raiden was put down for a nap, leaving Hikari and Sora alone.

"Terumi Maeda is a talent manager, right?" Hikari asked. After Sora's nod of confirmation, she continued, "Is that what you want to eventually do?"

"Actually, no," Sora admitted. "I'd really like to be a fashion or costume designer."

"Really? Do you have any sketches with you?"

Remembering that she brought her bag with her—not surprising since she took the thing wherever she went—she said, "Yes, but you don't have to—"

Hikari cut her off as she said, "My mother was a model for the company, so I know all about that industry. We could always use good designers."

Sora pulled out her sketchbook and handed them over. Hikari flipped through them quietly for an agonizing minute as Sora could not read her face before Hikari said, "Wow, Sora. These are really good." She stopped on a page of one particular dress. "This is beautiful."

"Thank you," Sora said somewhat embarrassed but really relieved and grateful.

Hikari was quiet for a moment before she asked, "Do you think I could borrow this? I'd really like to show it to some people for you."

"You would do that for me?" Sora asked shocked.

"Of course. Technically, I'm an Ishida, too. It's my job to make sure talent doesn't go to waste."

Sora was speechless for a moment before she said, "That would be amazing."

"Tell you what," Hikari said with a sudden determined and calculating look that Sora didn't understand. "I'll even send an invitation to you for the ball this Saturday. Unless…I know Mrs. Maeda was invited. Is she bringing you?"

"Um, no."

"Then it's settled. I know some important people will be there who'd like to meet you. I've enjoyed getting to know you. We'll have to have lunch again sometime."

Sora gushed a good-bye and thanks before leaving and entering the elevator. She looked down at her shimmering silver shoes, wondering at the fact that her dream was unfolding right before her eyes. Perhaps the shoes were really magical, after all.


	5. Periwinkle and Pale Rose

It was really beautiful—printed on sleek black paper with gilded silver letters that probably cost more than what she was paid for a day's work. Yet, here it was in her hand; the promised invitation that Hikari said she would send.

Sora was still a little bit dubious about the whole affair. She wondered if she really could just walk up to the building where they were holding the party and be let in. Now that the day had arrived, she wasn't sure if she was really going to go or not. But it was her chance to achieve her dream and she didn't really want to lose that despite of her fears. Yet, the ball started in little more than an hour and she hadn't done one little thing to get ready for it.

A confident rap on the door turned her focus away from the beautiful invitation and her whirling thoughts. Wondering who could possibly be visiting her as her normal number of visitors a month usually rounded out to a nice zero, she set down the invitation on the coffee table and stood up from the couch. When she opened the door, she at first recognized neither the pretty light brunette on the other side nor the man standing behind her, but after a moment, it clicked. "Mimi?" she asked surprised, giving a glance to the man behind Mimi, but no recognition flared. Sora returned her attention back to Mimi almost immediately as she noticed why it took so long for her to recognize her. "But—what happened to your hair?"

Mimi beamed at her as she ran her fingers through her definitely-_not_-pink brown ponytail. "Well, you know, the people at the office said 'lost the color or lose the internship'—stupid prats—so I had to change it for now. It doesn't really matter, since I was sort of planning on returning to my original color anyway. The pink thing was sort of a phase."

"Oh, I guess I just thought the color was kind of a fai—" she cut herself of as she remembered the man and instead waved her hand as she finished, "you know—thing."

Mimi laughed as she reached back to grab the man's arm. "Oh, you don't have to worry about him," she assured Sora. "This is my boyfriend, Koushiro. He knows all about the fairy godsister gig." She looked adoringly at the man, who had short dark red hair and searching black eyes. Sora felt that he was analyzing everything as he looked at her. Mimi continued, "This is Sora. She's my current magicee."

"Pleased to meet you," Koushiro said articulately, holding out his hand just a little bit shyly.

"Likewise," Sora said, instantly taking his hand and shaking it before turning back to Mimi as something occurred to her. "Magicee? Is that even a word?"

Mimi giggled. "Probably not. But a little something like that isn't going to stop me from using it!"

Sora cocked her head slightly as her thoughts finally gathered and her mind could think logically again. "So, it's not that I'm not really happy to see you, but…why are you here exactly?"

"I'm here to help you get ready for the ball, of course. What kind of magicker would I be if I didn't?"

"You're going to keep insisting on using those nonsensical words, aren't you?" Koushiro suddenly asked.

"Yep! If only because I know it tweaks your logical brain just to bits," Mimi teased.

Koushiro's sigh seemed mostly defeated but also partly amused. Sora stepped back and opened the door wider, finally saying, "Come in then, I guess." The two stepped through the door, stopping only to slip their shoes off before following Sora into the living area. Koushiro sat down and pulled out some handheld device that he began poking at with a stylus. Mimi sat down next to her boyfriend while Sora took the chair next to her. "Now, I know this will probably be a dumb question, but how did you know about the ball?" Sora asked.

"Magic," Mimi replied promptly.

"That's what I thought, which, I might add, is the tiniest bit creepy that you're practically stalking me with magic."

"Oh, honestly, that's completely untrue," Mimi said. "I just know when and how the shoes are being used. Besides, I already knew about the ball because Koushiro had an invitation."

Sora's brows furrowed in confusion. Ishida's parties were infamous for their exclusiveness. Usually only high tiered employees or other high class people were invited. It was nearly unheard of for someone of Sora's position to be invited. "Um…not to be completely and utterly rude, but…how?" she asked.

"The Ishida Corporation uses that computer thingy—"

"Software program," Koushiro interjected without looking up.

"Right, the computer thingy that Koushiro made," Mimi continued and Sora caught Koushiro's slight eye roll. "He gets invited to these sorts of things all the time."

"Wait a second," Sora said as something clicked. "Koushiro as in Koushiro _Izumi_?" The man gave a slightly startled nod and before she could stop herself, Sora asked, "How do you two meet?" She was genuinely confused as Koushiro Izumi was a well-known technical mind and, until recently, Mimi was a coffee barista.

"He passed me on the street one day and fell madly in love with my beauty," Mimi said dreamily. "He was so passionate about wanting me that I just couldn't say no."

There was a slight pause of silence before Koushiro said, "We were next door neighbors when we were growing up."

Mimi sighed heavily. "That just doesn't sound romantic at all, you know," she complained. "Though, it was rather endearing to watch him pine after me for years. On the Christmas holidays our senior year, I gave up hope of him ever realizing that I liked him back and just asked him out myself."

"I did not pine!" Koushiro protested.

"I suppose not," Mimi conceded. "But you were adorably awkward every time I tried to talk to you. But enough about us, I'm here to help you after all, Sora." Mimi stood up and pulled Sora to her feet. "You just wait here, darling, while us girls work." With that Mimi half dragged Sora to the bedroom and shut the door behind them.

Once in the confines of the room, Sora was quick to say, "Look, Mimi, not that I don't appreciate your help, but I don't think I'll be—"

"Oh, Sora, _don't_ tell me you've worked yourself into not going," Mimi despaired. "This is your chance. You can't possibly let this opportunity pass you by."

"But, I don't really know anyone there and I'm afraid it will just be terribly awkward if I just show up," Sora said, sinking onto the bed and flopping onto her back.

"Sora, sit up and listen to me," Mimi said and Sora was shocked enough by this sudden authoritative attitude from the younger woman that she did as instructed. "You are not going to let your fears rule you. You are going to this ball. You are getting your heart's desire. And you are _not _to say one more word to the contrary. Besides, Koushiro and I will be there, so you _will_ know someone."

"Fine," Sora agreed, trying to push down the feeling that she was most certainly going to regret this later. "Doll me up."

Mimi let out an excited squeal that was much more like her usual chipper self. "Now, I hope you don't mind me using a little magic to gussy you up. We don't have a lot of time left, and it is an absolute necessity that you look spectacular. As a fashion designer, I'm sure you know better than I what would look fabulous on you, so I want you to concentrate on the dress that you want and we'll let the wand do the rest, okay?" With that, Mimi held up her hand and the same long thin white wand Sora had seen before appeared in her hand.

Sora quickly thought about it and remembered one of her designs of a periwinkle blue mermaid dress that she had always dreamed of wearing herself. With a quick nod to Mimi, she closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the image of that dress. She opened her eyes and gasped as she felt her clothes change around her.

"Oh, Sora, you look gorgeous," Mimi said as she beamed brightly. Sora turned to look in the mirror and found that the dress fit her just as she had always imagined it would. The strapless dress hugged her body until it flared out around her knees in the mermaid style. Mimi had added long gloves of the same color that went beyond Sora's elbows and a simple sparkling flower charm necklace. Her hair was now in a complicated updo with flower clips that matched her necklace. Her makeup was completely perfect with just the right balance between too much and too light. Sora didn't know how long she stood looking in the mirror completely shocked, but then suddenly Mimi grabbed her in a tight hug and said, "Now you're ready for a ball." She pulled back and Sora was surprised to honestly see tears in the corners of Mimi's eyes. "Can I give you a bit of advice?"

"Sure," Sora said.

"Just…don't be surprised if your heart's desire isn't what you thought, okay?"

* * *

><p>Sora was still thinking about Mimi's words as she exited the town car (provided by Mimi and Koushiro) outside the building where the ball was taking place. Mimi had assured Sora that she would see Sora there before she and Koushiro left to take care of their own preparations (probably more so on Mimi's part than Koushiro's). She walked up the stairs to the entrance of the building, outside of which there were paparazzi flashing cameras in every direction, gripping her invitation tightly in one hand. She showed the beautiful black paper to one of the guards standing at the doorway, who asked for her name, checked some sort of electronic device in his hand, and waved her inside, after wishing her to have a good time.<p>

Still rather cautious, she stepped through the doors and literally had her breath taken away by the splendor and grandeur of the inside of the building. The ball seemed to be taking place in many different rooms throughout the building, some full of people dancing to various melodies or full of people just standing around holding glasses full of drinks and talking. Sora wandered around for a while, just taking it all in and keeping an eye out for Mimi and Koushiro, hoping to establish a "base" of sorts in case she would need it.

However, in her search, she happened to see Terumi talking to someone. She quickly turned and escaped the room, hoping that Terumi didn't see her and cursing herself for forgetting that she would be here tonight. Now she had to worry about avoiding the woman all night or Terumi would make it her personal mission to make Sora's life even more miserable than it already currently was. She had been nearly ruthless since the day Sora had lunch with Hikari, demanding every detail of her meeting with the Ishidas. Anisa and Sela had made sure to make it very clear how they thought Sora was hardly worthy of being in their presence, let alone having lunch again with Hikari. Sora had left out the fact that Hikari had invited her to this ball.

Hardly paying attention to where she was going—mostly focused on getting as far away from the room Terumi was in—she almost missed someone calling her name. "Ms. Takenouchi!" She stopped short and turned to find a man walking quickly towards her. Her curiosity kept her standing there waiting to see what he wanted, as she was sure she had never seen him before in her life. "Ms. Takenouchi, Mrs. Ishida sent me to find you. She would like to speak with you."

Confused at what Natsuko Ishida could possibly want with her, she followed the man to a room that had the entrance blocked by two rather burly looking guards. The man explained who she was to them, and they moved to let her in to the smaller room that had a smaller gathering inside. Sora looked around quickly at the occupants, trying to find who she was supposed to talk to.

And she couldn't believe her eyes.

Standing in the room, beautifully dressed in a pale rose gown of Sora's _own_ design, was Hikari Ishida on the arm of her husband.

It felt like someone had just shot her through her heart and punched her in the gut at the same time as Sora felt her breath leave her in a rush. Perhaps she should have known better. The Ishidas were probably just as self-centered and selfish as she had always imagined, and they had just pretended to be nice to get her designs. Sora couldn't think of any other reason Hikari would be dressed in Sora's gown. But…Sora was usually a good judge of character. And they had _seemed_ so nice.

She didn't know how long she stood there, frozen in shock and disappointment, until Hikari finally looked over at her. Sora expected some sort of triumphant smirk but was pleasantly surprised when Hikari smiled brightly and waved at her, indicating that Sora should come over. Cautiously, Sora slowly walked over to where they were standing talking to another pair that may or may not have been a couple.

"Good evening, Sora," Hikari said smiling warmly. Takeru echoed Hikari's greeting before Hikari continued, "I'm so glad you came."

"Thank you for inviting me," Sora replied, now genuinely confused. If Hikari was out to steal her designs, she couldn't think of why she was still being nice. Her eyes betrayed her as she looked up and down the gown. Hikari had picked well with the pale rose gown with red sash that gave the appearance of mixing a traditional kimono with a modern flair. It had been one of Sora's favorite designs, and she could help but admit that it looked fantastic on Hikari's petite figure—from a fashion standpoint, of course.

Hikari must have noticed her gaze because her hand trailed down the side of the gown. Suddenly, she laughed softly and said, "I hope you don't mind that I had it made. I've been showing your designs to lots of people and they've been impressed, but I figured the best way to show them off would be to actually wear one tonight."

Sora was so shocked that she had been completely wrong about Hikari's intentions that she couldn't think of anything to say. She felt so guilty for assuming the worst and grateful for Hikari to do so much for her. When she didn't say anything for a second, Hikari's smile fell as she said, "I'm sorry if it bothered you. I don't always think when I'm trying to help someone and tend to go overboard sometimes. I'll, of course, pay you for the dress, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, no, it's fine," Sora said quickly as her thoughts finally caught up. "I'm just so grateful and overwhelmed. Thank you."

Hikari's smile returned. "It was nothing, really. And I see that you're also wearing one of your own designs. I recognize it from your sketchbook. That blue looks absolutely spectacular on you."

Suddenly, Takeru cleared his throat and said, "Hikari."

Hikari looked up at her husband and said, "What?" Takeru nodded toward the other pair, who both had indulgent smiles on their faces. "Oh," Hikari said somewhat apologetically. "How completely rude of me. I'm sorry. Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Fujiyami, this is Sora Takenouchi, the woman whose designs I've been telling you about. Sora, this is Hideo Tanaka and Konomi Fujiyami, the directors of the fashion department."

Sora was awestruck. All she could manage to say was a very small, "Good evening."

Mr. Tanaka gave her a small smile. "As Mrs. Ishida said, she's been telling us about you. And I must say that Konomi and I are very impressed with your work. As such, we would like to offer you a job."

It was all Sora could do not to let her jaw drop. Her thoughts turned to the silver shoes that Mimi had insisted that she still wear. Here it was. Her dream was being granted and her wish was being fulfilled.

"It won't be very big, just as an assistant costume designer for Ayako Nerumi's new movie, but with your skills, you may very well find yourself moving up the ladder very quickly," Ms. Fujiyami added. "What do you say?"

"Yes, thank you," Sora said instantly.

Both of them smiled and Mr. Tanaka said, "Excellent. We'll expect you to report to our building Monday morning. I'll make sure that someone will be there to get you acquainted with everything. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Ishida, if you will excuse us, we'll leave now."

"Yes, of course, thank you," Hikari said. With that, Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Fujiyami walked away.

Sora turned immediately to Hikari and said, "Thank you again. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

Hikari smiled. "You deserve it, Sora. You're very talented."

"Talented?" A new somewhat familiar voice repeated. "You must be talking about me." Sora looked up and glanced behind her to find Taichi Yagami approaching their group.

"Of course, Taichi," Takeru quipped as Taichi came to stand on Hikari's other side. "Who else would we be talking about?"

Taichi seemed to blink in surprise. "That was a highly Yamato thing to say," he said. "I think sometimes I forget that you two are related."

"Speaking of which, where is my brother?" Takeru asked grinning. "Weren't you two coming together?"

"He got accosted by someone at the door," Taichi said unconcerned. "But I'm sure he'll be along shortly."

"Oh, good," Hikari said happily. "I wanted him to meet Sora."

"Me? Why?" Sora asked shocked and she didn't miss the split second glance that Takeru and Taichi exchanged—Taichi's more impish and Takeru's somewhat resigned.

"Here he comes," Taichi said, looking behind Sora. Sora turned around slowly to look at the entrance almost not believing that she was actually about to meet the Prince. She seen pictures of him (every day if you counted the ones on Anisa's and Sela's desks) and she'd heard about him, but she was _actually_ about to meet him. Somehow, that seemed even more surreal than meeting Hikari, Takeru, and Taichi.

He walked with an air of confidence and a knowing smirk on his face, that was the first thing she noticed after the fact that he was just as good-looking in real life as he was in his pictures with his blond hair and blue eyes, nearly identical to Takeru's own, now that she thought about it. His outfit gave the impression of elegance with his white shirt and black dress coat, but the top two or three buttons were open at the top of the shirt which gave the whole thing a look of carelessness.

Sora would swear she didn't breath as he walked up to their group smiling in greeting at his family before giving her a sort of confused look—without losing the smirk—as he said, "Hello."

And she swore she couldn't help it, but her fashion trained mind said the very first thing that she thought of as she took a deep breath and said, "Why aren't you wearing a tie?"


	6. The Moment

Yamato was certain he was missing out on something important—some vital piece of information that would help to clear up the situation that was currently making him rather befuddled—as he looked around at the group.

Taichi and Takeru were outright laughing—even Hikari was trying to hide a smile behind her hand—while the mysterious auburn-haired woman in front of him—who may or may not have effectively insulted him, though he wasn't quite sure yet—flushed a brilliant red and began stammering, "I mean…it's just that…you know…" She heaved a sigh of frustration, seemingly more directed at herself for her inability to give a clear explanation than at him for the lack of tie issue. "What I'm trying to say is that—from a fashion standpoint—you would like much nicer with a tie, with your more sophisticated hair cut and confident demeanor. This guy," she said, throwing out her thumb in the direction of Taichi, who looked the slightest bit shocked at being singled out, "can pull off going without a tie because that's the type of personality he tends to portray."

"I think I've just been insulted," Taichi stage whispered to Hikari, who laughed softly. It was clear that Taichi wasn't really offended given the grin that still remained on his face.

The woman shot a death glare at Taichi—making her Yamato's absolute new favorite person—before turning back to Yamato and continuing, "You, on the other hand, can't because it just makes you look careless and untidy rather than roguishly handsome." She heaved a sigh as she finished and let her arms fall to her sides, in a somewhat helpless gesture.

"I think I've just been flattered," Taichi stage whispered again to Hikari, who laughed even louder this time.

Yamato completely ignored his best friend and flashed a smirk across his face—if first impressions were any indication, he was probably going to really like getting to know the woman standing before him (double bonus for the fact that she was really beautiful, as well)—as he said, "That's actually excellent news, considering not wearing a tie to this ridiculous event is part of my ongoing war on what my mother thinks is helping me."

"Oh," the woman said in a somewhat defeated and unsure tone. Suddenly, she thrust her hand out, shocking Yamato a little, and said, "Let's start over. I'm Sora Takenouchi."

His lips quipped up into a half-smile as he shook her hand and said, "Yamato Ishida, but you probably already know that."

"I guess your ego doesn't really need much of a boost," Sora said sarcastically before covering her mouth with her hand while Taichi and Takeru started laughing again. Yamato raised an eyebrow at this woman because he had never known anyone besides his family to ever talk to him like that. Usually people were going out of their way to be nice to him—whether they wanted to get close to his position or were just terrified of his mother remained to be seen. Looking horrified with her cheeks flaming again, Sora was quick to add, "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me, honestly. I'm usually a really nice person."

"It's fine," Yamato promptly said. In truth, she intrigued him, both because of her blatant words and the fact that she was standing here at all with the other three given that he had never seen her before.

"Sora is the new assistant costume designer for Ayako Nerumi's new movie," Hikari supplied helpfully, probably sensing Yamato's confusion. Hikari had always been rather good at reading the atmosphere of any given situation.

With a grin that was entirely too much like his own smirk for Yamato's liking, Takeru added, "Until recently, she worked for Terumi Maeda." The effect of those words was instantaneous. Both Taichi and Yamato stiffened and froze. Sora was glancing between the two of them with a confused look.

"She's not here, is she?" Yamato asked with a panicked voice that he wasn't quite proud of but couldn't really help as he glanced back towards the doorway almost expecting that devil of a woman to be standing there.

"Actually, she is," Sora said innocently. "I saw her on my way to this room."

"You know, we've made an appearance. People have seen us. I bet your mother wouldn't notice if we took the back way out," Taichi said quickly, a mirror of Yamato's panic in his eyes.

"Of course she would," Yamato snapped, a sudden tight and clenching feeling gathering in the center of his chest. Perhaps he could get Jyou to find some random task to set the woman—set her office on fire or something—anything that would get her to leave. He added after a thought, "But right now, I'd rather face Mom's anger than _her_ again."

"Wait, you guys know Ms. Maeda?" Sora interjected clearly confused again.

"We've come across each other's paths before," Yamato said carefully, suddenly glaring at Takeru from bringing up the subject—clearly on purpose—who was clearly trying his very hardest not to burst out laughing. Yamato was sure he wouldn't be so quick to laughter if he had been there when he and Taichi had met that crazy woman and her psychotic excuses for assistants. Yamato was quite sure that he would be content in life to never see any of those three women again. They way they had treated him—like they wanted to put him on a pedestal and eat him all at the same time—was something he never wanted to experience again. Even Taichi hadn't gotten away unscathed and scarred from the incident. He looked at Sora once more, wondering if she would turn out to be just another psycho, suddenly unsure that he wanted to get to know her more at all.

Hikari, ever the peacemaker, somehow sensed Yamato's thoughts again as she said, "Don't worry, Yamato. Sora is really nothing like her at all."

"Why are you guys acting like Terumi Maeda is your worst nightmare?" Sora asked suddenly somewhat perplexed, but there was the slightest hint of amusement in her tone. Yamato wondered how she could possibly be enjoying his and Taichi's panic, if she had indeed worked for that woman for _any_ amount of time. Yamato only had to spend fifteen minutes with her to cement her clearly in his mind as someone that he didn't ever want to see again.

Yamato bit off the urge to instantly reply that she very well nearly _was_ his worst nightmare and said, "Terumi Maeda is…well…"

"Interesting?" Takeru supplied not so helpfully. Yamato shot another glare at him, wondering where his nice, sensitive brother of last week had gone. Takeru could be the nicest guy in the world, especially when someone else was feeling down, like Yamato had been last week, but if there was no one in need, he could be almost as teasing as Taichi and nearly as sarcastic as Yamato, though mostly just towards his family and friends.

"Enthusiastic?" Taichi added suddenly grinning. Yamato was sure he had finally seen the humor in the situation and was eager jump onto the bandwagon to tease Yamato as much as humanly possible.

"Zealous?" Takeru tried next.

"Clinically insane?" Taichi finished off folding his arms in front of his chest with a triumphant look on his face.

Hikari gently slapped her husband and brother on their arms as Sora laughed. "Stop it, guys," she admonished lightly. "Don't be mean." But there was half a smile on her face that gave away her amusement at their antics. She looked at Yamato and, with an entirely too innocent smile on her face—making Yamato quite suddenly wary—said, "Why don't you take Sora out to dance, Yamato?"

Sparing a glance at Sora, whose face displayed a mixture of emotions, Yamato gave it a thought. If his mother knew that he had danced at least with one woman, she could not possibly be angry at him for not trying. And if _other_ woman saw him dancing with someone, they might even back off and he wouldn't have to hide in this private chamber with Taichi, Takeru, and Hikari all night. Figuring all around, it was a rather win-win situation, he said, "Sure, why not?"

* * *

><p>It was amazing, really, how much Sora was enjoying herself as she and Yamato danced in one of the rooms. She found him peculiarly easy to talk to. She found out that he was actually quite normal of a person—a normal person who just happened to be lucky enough to be born into his family—which she also found out he didn't particularly find himself very lucky to be an Ishida. He proceeded to change all her preconceived notions of him, and she found herself reprimanding herself for not expecting it. When she had lunch with Hikari, Takeru, and Taichi, they had also not been as she had imagined. She shouldn't have thought it was so far a stretch to think the same of Yamato.<p>

She was in the middle of a sentence when someone caught her eye and she gasped suddenly.

"What is it?" Yamato asked.

"It's Terumi Maeda," Sora whispered, leaning in close to Yamato so that he could hear her.

He stiffened immediately and looked around, a somewhat panicked look in his eyes appearing when he caught sight of her. "This way," he said to Sora as he pulled her along, almost running in their urgency to get away. He led her to a door and opened it, guiding her in and closing it quickly behind them. He leaned against it and heaved a sigh of relief. "I guess we'll just hide out here until we're sure she's gone."

Sora looked up at Yamato her brows furrowed in confusion at this man before her. "You're a lot different than I thought you would be," Sora said, speaking her thoughts out loud.

"And what were you expecting?" he asked, a single eyebrow lifting in question, but there was some amusement in his eyes as well.

"I don't know. A little more arrogance or sophistication for starters, at least," Sora said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Pending that, at least someone that's a little bit more benevolent or refined."

Yamato's smirk returned as he said with an amused tone, "So, someone more prince-like in other words."

"Exactly," Sora said with an eager nod. "How on earth did you come by that nickname anyway? No offense, but having met both of you, honestly, I think your brother fits more of the definition of what 'Prince' implies."

"You and me both," Yamato muttered almost soft enough that Sora couldn't hear him. "If only I could pawn the nickname off on him," he added in a despairing tone.

"You don't like being called 'Prince'? Really?" Sora asked a little bit shocked. Ever since she heard it, she had thought he would have liked being called that.

"Nope. Never have, and probably never will," Yamato said succinctly. "I'm not sure where it even came from to be completely honest."

"If I had to wager a guess, I would go with the crazy fan-girls," Sora said. "Probably why it stuck better with you than it would have with your brother, considering he's had Hikari for his whole life and was effectively 'off the market', so to speak."

"That's true," Yamato said with a small frown. "He's done an excellent job of keeping himself out of the limelight. Something I have never—and probably never will—manage. People seem to be far more interested in my life…sometimes more than even I am."

Sora laughed softly. "Well, it's not like you're not an interesting person…if that makes sense," she added as she realized the convulsion of the sentence. "You're handsome, confident, and really rather charming when you want to be." She could feel a slight blush rise on her cheeks at her words. She had spoken before she had really thought about what she was saying. Yamato's eyes were widened slightly and his eyebrows were raised in surprise. Sora added quickly, "And you're always disappearing off the face of the map for unknown reasons, which is always good for the gossip bank."

Yamato stepped away from the door and walked closer to her with a strange calculating and perplexed look in his eyes. Sora didn't move as he stopped right in front of her, just a breath of space left between them. "I don't think I've ever met someone like you before," he said softly. He suddenly smiled as he continued, "It's really quite refreshing actually." A softer look glazed his eyes as he reached out slowly and moved a stray lock of hair off Sora's forehead.

A spark and a shiver flowed through Sora as his fingertips brushed her skin. An expectant silence with sudden tension filled the air as Yamato's hand fell away back to his side. Sora felt somewhere between ridiculous and breathless. It was silly really, if she thought about it, as she'd never been liked Anisa and Sela and fawning over Yamato. Now she found herself feeling that she was suddenly entirely too close to the man before her. Their gazes were locked and Sora felt that she couldn't have looked away unless someone physically pushed her away.

A strange mystified look entered Yamato's eyes, almost as if he didn't know what he was doing, standing there staring at Sora. "Yamato?" Sora asked quietly, hoping that he would be able to stop…whatever this was happening between them. Yamato didn't say anything as his mouth opened just slightly, almost as if he had been about to speak but stopped when he thought better of it. Sora froze as Yamato quite suddenly began to lean closer to her.

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized simultaneously that Yamato was going to kiss her and that she wasn't going to do anything to stop him. It was like her feet were suddenly covered in cement or had grown roots into the floor. Something was holding her to this spot and wasn't letting her go. Yamato's lips brushed hers just briefly, but Sora felt the sparks all the way down to her toes. Then Yamato's hand came up to cup her cheek and he pulled her closer to kiss her more deeply. Sora found herself responding and kissing him back. After a few moments, however she quite suddenly remembered exactly what she was doing.

She was standing here, kissing _Yamato Ishida_ of all people.

Sora gasped and stepped back from him, pulling away from the kiss and his embrace, knowing she wasn't able to mask her emotions and feeling her face flush completely red. She dropped her head, unable to meet his eyes. "Sora, I—" he began to say, but Sora didn't stay to hear what he had to say. She pushed past him, opened the door as fast as she could, and began to run away, feeling one of her shoes slip off. Without thinking she kicked the other one off too—now she was completely barefoot—thankful for the crowd just outside the doors to get lost in. She would never have been able to outrun him otherwise because of her ridiculous mermaid dress—while it did look fabulous on her, it completely hindered her ability to run. She heard Yamato calling out her name, but that soon faded away as she made her way through the rooms, searching desperately for Koushiro and Mimi. If she could only find them, Mimi would help her escape this debacle.

"Miss Takenouchi, is that you? What are you doing here?"

Sora whipped around—she had completely forgotten that woman was out here. Terumi stood there with Anisa and Sela behind her—all three were pinning her with gazes of disgust and ill-disguised hatred. Sora nearly threw her hands up in the air thinking that nothing could possibly go more wrong. Suddenly, remembering she didn't work for this woman anymore—after tonight, she wondered if she would still work for the Ishidas at all—she said (perhaps a little more harshly than she'd liked, but well, she was distraught), "I don't have time to deal with you, Terumi."

Not waiting to hear her reply, Sora ran away from her, keeping her eye out for Yamato and Mimi—one to avoid and one to find. Finally, she saw Mimi—wearing (surprise, surprise) a hot pink ball gown—on Koushiro's arm, laughing happily. She walked quickly over to where they were. "Mimi," she said with a forced smile when she was close enough for the other girl to hear her. Mimi turned with surprise in her eyes. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" Sora added trying to keep her voice level, but she heard the slight note of panic that managed to slip through.

Mimi nodded. "Excuse me," she said to Koushiro and the other people around her. She took Sora's arm and pulled her slightly away towards the wall for privacy. "What's wrong, Sora?" she asked. "I felt the—"

"I need your help," Sora said. "Something happened and I need to get out of here."

Mimi's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Sora looked down at her fiddling hands. "I may have…kissed…Yamato Ishida," she mumbled.

"Oh, Sora, that's so great," Mimi said excitedly—to Sora's utter and complete surprise.

"Actually, Mimi, no, it's not," Sora said. "It was kind of completely and horrifically humiliating."

"But I felt…are you sure?" Mimi said with a confused furrowing of her eyebrows.

Sora nodded. "Can you just send me home?" she asked, only slightly ashamed of the pleading tone in her voice. Mimi nodded and led Sora to an empty room where they were alone.

Mimi pulled out her wand and said, "I'll send you to your apartment. But…can you just remember what I said to you? Before the ball?" Before Sora could reply, she tapped Sora with her wand lightly on the top of her head. Sora found herself surrounded by white sparkles for a second before she was quite suddenly standing in her bedroom, where she quite promptly collapsed on the side of her bed and burst into tears.


	7. Chick Flicks and Happy Endings

"Well, that was a stupid thing to do," Taichi said after Yamato told him what had happened the night before. Taichi had come to find him the morning after "the incident" (as Yamato now referred to it in his mind), wondering where the heck he had gone because he had failed to return to the party after he performed the most stupidest act of his entire life. His mother was probably furious.

"Thank you, Taichi," Yamato said in response to his statement. "As always, your unwavering support is greatly appreciated." He wasn't really in the mood for Taichi's teasing at the moment…not that he was ever really in the mood for it in the first place. But that never seemed to deter Taichi in the slightest.

"No, seriously, you knew the woman for half an hour—forty-five minutes tops—and you decide that's long enough to make-out?" His tone was incredulous, but Yamato couldn't really blame him—after all, the man had a point. He had thought about it all night—his brain was nearly fried due to exhaustion and confusion—and he was still having trouble believing that it really happened.

Nonetheless, he felt the need to defend himself so he said, "First off, we did not make-out. The kiss lasted like two seconds."

But, as if Yamato hadn't spoken at all, Taichi didn't let him get much farther than that as he cut in with, "And now you're in here _wallowing_ in self-pity staring at her _shoes_ of all things!" There was a brief second where the two friends just stared at each other as Yamato could not come up with another argument to counter Taichi's observations. He was, in fact, staring at the silver shoes Sora had left behind. Collecting them from outside the door had been as far as he had gotten in chasing after her as he soon realized he had no idea what to say to her. Taichi shook his head slowly and continued, "My friend, you have hit a new low in life. What on earth has possessed you?"

Yamato didn't answer at first because he wasn't exactly sure how to reply to that, because that was kind of exactly how he felt at that moment—possessed. "It was as if something beyond my control was pulling me towards her, you know," he said almost unaware that he was speaking out loud at all, thinking back to that moment when he stared into those warm brown orbs, wondering when he had ever seen anything so beautiful.

"In fact, no, I don't," Taichi replied in tone that very well spoke that he thought Yamato was absolutely insane.

Yamato shrugged. "I can't explain it more than that," he said. When he had kissed her, it was like he had no control over himself at all—not that it hadn't been absolutely amazing in either case.

A few moments later, Taichi asked, "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Yamato narrowed his eyes at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Taichi sighed and finally took a seat in front of Yamato, ruffling his hair almost as if he was uncomfortable. "Look, I'm not asking you if you love the woman or anything—it would be super weird if you said you did, by the way—but did you like her?"

Yamato only had to think about it for a second before he replied, "Yeah, I liked her. I mean, she was nice, easy to talk to, really pretty..."

"Enough to want to see her again?" Taichi asked, cutting across Yamato before he could continue.

"Of course, I'd like to see her again," Yamato said exasperatedly, not understanding what Taichi's point was. At this point, it wasn't the fact that _he_ wanted to see _her_ again stopping him so much as the other way around and began to tell Taichi just that. "Not that there's much of a chance of that—"

Taichi interrupted him again as he said (in a serious tone that Yamato usually didn't hear unless the situation involved Hikari), "What are you going to do about it?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Yamato asked his best friend with frustration, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "It's not that I don't want to see her, but I really doubt she'd like to see me. Never mind that I haven't a clue where to find her."

"Are you or are you not Yamato Ishida?" Taichi asked with his mischievous grin back on his face. "If you liked Sora enough to want to see her again after that debacle last night—that I assure you, as your best friend, I will no longer bring up, unless I have absolutely run out of things to tease you about."

"Oh thanks ever so much, you're so considerate," Yamato interjected sarcastically.

Taichi nodded once with a wide smile before he continued, "Then I'd say she's worth finding, wouldn't you? Commandeer your mother's army and go forth." He paused for a moment before he added, "Or you could just ask Hikari where she is. I'm sure she knows. She pays attention to the weird minor details."

Yamato stared at his best friend, lost in his thoughts. Taichi was right. He wasn't in love with Sora, but he would sure like to find out if he could be one day. He grinned as he stared as his disheveled clothes. "I suppose I should shower and change before I go," he said as he stood up.

Taichi stood up and said (back in his more teasing tone), "Well, _I_ wasn't going to say anything, but I would imagine that would be a rather good idea."

"Thanks, Taichi," Yamato said with a genuinely grateful smile.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Taichi said, wrapping his arm around Yamato's shoulder in half a hug. As they walked from the room, Taichi added, "You know, once you get your happily ever after, I fully expect you to name your first child after me, in repayment for my help."

Yamato laughed. "Not a chance, Taichi," he said, shrugging Taichi's arm off his shoulder.

"Can I have your jet then?" Taichi asked and Yamato could tell he was still teasing by the glint in his eye.

"Sure," Yamato said and watched as Taichi registered his answer with shock—he'd probably been expecting Yamato to turn him down flat. Yamato grinned at his friend. "I have a feeling I might not need it for a while anyway."

Taichi smiled again. "No more running away?" he asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

"No more running away," Yamato confirmed.

"Bummer," Taichi said, sounding genuinely disappointed. "I guess I'll just have to go see Raiden without you." And Yamato laughed, more content than he had felt in a long time.

* * *

><p>Sora felt completely pathetic. She was sitting on her couch—in sweatpants—clutching a throw pillow and watching a very stupid, cheesy romantic film on her television. No one had called her (yet) to inform her so she assumed that she still had her new job to look forward to tomorrow. Apparently kissing the CEOs' son wasn't cause for termination. Or Yamato hadn't told them. Or it was just something he did all the time so no one cared. There were those rumors of secret girlfriends.<p>

There was a knock at the door, but she didn't feel like answering it. If it was important enough, they would come back later. Unless the firefighters started hacking down her door, she wanted to sit here all day and wallow in self-pity and just wait for tomorrow to arrive so that she could immerse herself in her new job and forget the ball had ever happened. But then there was another (more insistent) knock at the door accompanied by a voice that said, "Sora, can I come in?"

She was mildly surprised to hear Mimi's voice, wondering what the other woman could possibly want. She'd lost the shoes—nearly lost her mind—and she'd already gotten her wish. She'd gotten her new dream job outside of Terumi's thumb. "Sora, you leave me no choice but to…" A swirl of sparkles suddenly appeared in front of her and Mimi appeared and finished, "sparkle myself inside." She gave Sora a wide smile.

Sora just looked at her before she asked, "What are you doing here? I'd thought after I got my wish that..."

"That'd I disappear and you'd never see me again," Mimi finished arching a single eyebrow up. "That's usually how it works, but I sort of thought that we became friends in all of this and I was worried about you after last night, so I came to see how you were doing, which doesn't look very good, by the way, and I had something to talk to you about with you wish, so here I am."

Smiling at Mimi, Sora flipped off the television and said, "Take a seat then, my very good fairy godsister."

Mimi beamed and took a seat on the couch next to Sora, curling her legs up under her. "Congratulations on your new job," she said.

"Thank you."

Mimi seemed to hesitate slightly after that. She bit her lower lip before saying slowly, "Do you remember what I said to you? Before I sent you off to the ball?"

Sora thought for a moment before asking, "That bit about my true wish not being what I thought."

Mimi nodded eagerly, but then began picking at her nails a little too nonchalantly. "That's what I wanted you to talk about. You see, I tried to tell you last night, but you were so distressed and there was so many people about that I couldn't really get it out, so I just let it go then, but I just knew that I'd have to come by and tell you, because what you thought was your wish, you know, getting that job, is not what the shoes did." She said that all in rush.

"But...I thought…what do you mean?"

"I felt the shoes work for you exactly two times: the day that you got invited to the ball and last night," Mimi said, still looking at her hands.

"Exactly," Sora agreed. "They got me to meet Hikari, and then they got me that job last night."

"You see, I don't agree exactly," Mimi said, flicking her gaze up to meet Sora's. "I agree that they got you to meet Hikari, but I don't think getting you that job is what they were going for."

"So, if they weren't getting me that job, what exactly were they doing?" Sora asked slowly.

"I didn't feel the shoes work until just minutes before you found me," Mimi said so quietly that Sora almost didn't hear her, and she almost wished she hadn't because she knew exactly what had happened a few minutes before she went to get Mimi.

"Are you saying…" she paused, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat before she began again, "Are you saying the shoes thought my true wish was _kissing_ _Yamato Ishida_?"

Mimi's cheeks flushed brightly. "Perhaps not that exactly," she said. "But, I've often found that most girls' one true wish is to find someone that she can love and who will love her. 'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.'"

"Moulin Rouge?" Sora asked with a curl of a smile at the corner of her lips.

Mimi nodded, giving Sora a warm smile. "Will you at least think about what I've said?" she asked. At Sora's nod, she clapped her hands together excitedly. "Great! Now turn that television back on, I'll go pop some popcorn and we can finish the movie."

"It's super cheesy," Sora warned as Mimi walked to the kitchen.

"But isn't that just what makes it super great?" Mimi shot back, causing Sora to collapse in a fit of laughter.

* * *

><p>Sora breathed in the air of the studio as she walked in for the first time the next day. She was about to start her new job—she was supposed to be looking for Ms. Fujiyami, who she had met the other night at the ball. She'd gotten a call yesterday from Ms. Fujiyami's assistant say that she would be there to direct Sora where she would go. Finally, she saw the woman surrounded by a group a people, who were constantly changing as she shooed them away probably on some sort of errands.<p>

Feeling slightly apprehensive, she walked over to the group and was about to make herself known, when Ms. Fujiyami turned right to her and said with a smile, "Ah, Ms. Takenouchi, how pleasant to see you again."

"Thank you, Ms. Fujiyami," Sora said. "It's very nice to see you again as well."

"No time for more pleasantries, I'm afraid," Ms. Fujiyami said. "Unfortunately, business keeps moving along and it's our job to keep up as best we can. This here is Mrs. Tachibana," she said, pointing to the rather nice looking woman next to her. "She's the head designer here for the wardrobes and you'll be working as her assistant."

"Nice to meet you," Sora said with a smile.

"Likewise," Mrs. Tachibana said with a warm smile. Sora had the feeling she was going to like working under this woman much better than working for Terumi.

"Well, I've leave you two girls to it, then," Ms. Fujiyami said before she turned and walked away, a cluster of people following her as she did.

Once alone, Mrs. Tachibana turned to Sora and handed her a clipboard and steered her over to a rack of clothing. "This is Ayako Nerumi's wardrobe for the movie," she said. "Everything is listed on the clipboard with accompanying pictures." Sora glanced down and saw that she was right. "I'd like you to go over it and make sure everything is there. Also, give them a good glance over to see if you can see any stitches loose, buttons missing, that sort of thing. I've already done it myself, but it never hurts to have a second eye, right?"

"Of course," Sora said, giving her a smile.

"I know it's never very exciting work—"

"But it's important," Sora finished for her. "It's not a problem. I'll get started right away."

Mrs. Tachibana smiled at her. "I'll just be over there," she said pointing toward the set, "if you need me."

"Thanks," Sora said and Mrs. Tachibana left her alone. Sora was just beginning to get lost in her work when she heard a commotion behind her—mumbled whisperings and a sudden hushed tension. She turned to look and immediately turned back around, her face flushing completely red.

Yamato Ishida was standing in the doorway.

Sora, trying so very hard to be invisible, ducked around the rack of clothes and pretended to bury herself with checking stitching, but couldn't help peeking over the clothes to see what he was doing. He was surrounded by a cluster of people—including those Sora recognized like the director and the producers and such. Even more people hung just a little way back, clearly interested in wanting to talk to him, but unsure of how to approach him. He looked really handsome, she couldn't help but note, and he was wearing a proper tie with his suit this time. He was now talking to Mrs. Tachibana, but Sora couldn't make out what he said, but when Mrs. Tachibana pointed in her direction and his eyes looked up to follow her hand, Sora ducked down behind the clothes again, hoping that he hadn't seen her spying on him.

For a few seconds, she thought she was off the hook until she heard that unmistakable voice ask, "Sora?" She felt rather than saw (because she had one of Ayako Nerumi's shirts so close to her face that she could see the weave of the fabric) him approach around the rack of clothes.

Deciding instantly to go for the nonchalant-nothing-happened-between-us-_ever_ approach, she turned to look at him and said (way too brightly with a rather big fake smile), "Oh, hello, Mr. Ishida. How are you today?"

His smirk was entirely too knowing for her liking as he asked, "Can I talk to you?"

"Of course, I mean, technically we're on your property and I'm your employee, so I can't really stop you," Sora said, letting just a hint of sarcasm cross her tone in her annoyance. She peeked once more over the clothes rack and could see everyone in the studio trying very hard (and failing rather noticeably) not to look in their direction.

"If that's the way you feel about it, we can go somewhere else," Yamato said and Sora turned back to look at him and was surprised to see mild anger brewing in his cold blue eyes. But before Sora could answer he asked, "Why did you run away from me?"

"Why? Not the usual response you get?" Sora asked rather harshly keeping her tone quiet and low so that no one but Yamato would hear her, suddenly finding herself confrontational and angry at this infuriating—and yet oh so very gorgeous—man in front of her. "What did you expect me to do? Fawn and drool over you like some other brainless twit of a girl?"

"Why are you angry with me?" he asked suddenly.

"Because you're Yamato freaking Ishida, the "Prince", with super powers and secret girlfriends!" Sora yelled at him, peripherally aware that the room around them had quite suddenly gone rather quiet.

"Wait just one minute," Yamato said quickly. "I guess I can understand the whole secret girlfriends thing, what with me running off all the time and the media thinking that no rich man has anything better to do with their time. But where the heck did you get the idea that I have super powers?" He looked genuinely confused…and somewhat hurt Sora noted with a stab of guilt.

"I guess you never heard that rumor," she said quietly. She took a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…what I'm trying to say is that never in my life did I really expect to ever see you again and you just kind of overwhelmed me by appearing here again and I don't know…I'm just not very good with surprises like that. You should see me in a haunted maze, sometime, it's not a pretty sight…I once knocked out one of the guys that scared me."

"Maybe sometime I will," Yamato interrupted.

Sora faltered and asked, "Maybe sometime you will what?"

"See you in a haunted maze," Yamato said, quite suddenly smiling much more gently than anything she had seen on him previously and his air somehow lost a little bit of its confident aura.

"Why would you do that?" Sora asked confused. "I understand, okay? Probably far more than you do, but I understand that the other night you weren't yourself and I don't blame you or anything. We can part ways and leave this whole thing behind us." She turned back to the shirt, fully expecting him to leave now.

"What if I don't want to?"

Her gaze snapped back to him and she asked, "Excuse me?"

"What if I don't want to?" he asked again much more slowly taking a step closer to her. She didn't say anything in response because she was certain that she had not heard right. Yamato Ishida could not be standing here implying what she thought he was. "I don't know what brought us together and I'm not saying I love you or anything like that, but I'd like to see where we could go with this. If you'd like, we can even just start out as friends and see how that goes."

Sora straightened and was silent for a few moments, thinking about what she and Mimi had talked about last night. She smiled and said, "I'd like that."

* * *

><p><em>About 2 years later…<em>

**_ISHIDA FAMILY GAINS A "PRINCESS"_**

_It was confirmed yesterday that Yamato Ishida, called "Prince" by his many fans, proposed to long time girlfriend, Sora Takenouchi, who has now been given the name "Princess" by various media. The couple was unavailable for comment, but Ishida's best friend, Taichi Yagami, said that the couple "couldn't be happier" and he was "very excited" for them. The couple plans... CONTINUED ON PAGE 4D_

Mimi folded the newspaper over and placed it gently on the table, smiling brightly, completely satisfied at another job well done. She checked the clock again and sighed, but brightened considerably when the door to the shop opened (a little later than she thought but still, she _was_ close) and a girl in a high school uniform walked inside looking rather confused. Spotting Mimi, she started slightly, and said, "I'm sorry. I've never seen this store before and well…"

Giving the girl her most welcoming smile, Mimi said, "Oh, it's not a problem. Welcome to _One True Wish_."


End file.
